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issued Weekly. Annual Subscription, $x 3 .oo I 
I ' March 8th, 1890. 

Entered at the Post Office New York as second class mattert 


GEO. H. COOMER 


^IL LUSTRAT ED. 

No copyright books by leading authors f(yr buy* and girls cqua 
in merit and purUy were ever before published for less than 

FRANK F. LOVELL & COMPANY, 

NEW YOEK. 


this serim 
iaeopy. 



WALTJiii DAyxujs cAx x 0 KJSD BX EOBBEBS. iSee page 11, 




THE MOOBTAIN CAVE: 


OR, 


THE MYSTERY OE THE SIERRA NEVADA. 


GEORGE H. COOMER, 

Author of “The Bovs in the Forecastle,” Etc., Etc, 


A 



NEW YORK: 

FRANK F. LOVELL & COMPANY, 
142 ANT) 144 Worth St. 


Copyright, 1889, by 
Frank F. Lovell & Company. 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


CHAPTER L 

THE MYSTERIOUS CAPTURE. 

The stage coach made its way laboriously, for the 
road was difficult. It was under the very shadow of 
the Sierra Nevada. The passengers were weary, and 
conversation flagged. 

Suddenly the general lassitude was forgotten in as 
general an interest. 

“ It was only two months ago that my father was 
robbed of all his property,” said a bright-faced girl 
of fifteen, who occupied the left-hand corner of the 
rear seat. 

A fine, manly-looking boy, somewhat crowded in 
the forward part of the coach, raised his head quick- 
ly, scanning the fair young passenger with an air of 
sympathy. 

Every one manifested an eager curiosity, and the 
girl’s cheeks flushed as she saw what attention she 
had drawn to herself. 

“ All his property ! ” exclaimed a female passenger, 
to whom the remark had seemed to be addressed. 

How sorry I am for you ! Was it a large amount ? ” 

“Yes, ma’am ; it was very large.” 

“ War it in gold, miss ? ” queried a miner. 

“Yes, sir ; all in gold.” 

“Way up ’mong the thousands, you say, miss?” 
put in a second miner. 


4 


THE MOUNTAIN CAYE. 


“Yes, sir.” 

“ All his pile ! That war hard on him ! 

“It was very hard, sir.” 

“ Bobbed, I think you said, miss ? ” put in a some- 
what elderly man who sat next to the boy. “ Pray, 
how did it happen ? ” 

“ The gold was on board an express train, sir, and 
the train was boarded by a band of masked robbers.” 

“ Two months ago ? No doubt I must have read 
of it.” 

“ Yes, sir ; it was in all the papers.” 

“Let’s see — two months ago — there are so many 
such robberies now — two months ago. And your 
father lost — how much did you say ? ” 

“A hundred thousand dollars, sir.” 

“ A hundred thousand dollars ! Is it possible ? ” 

“ Yes, sir ; a hundred thousand dollars in gold.” 

“ YVliew ! ” came from the crowd of passengers, and 
there was a low whistle as of incredulity from one or 
two of them. But a something in the young and 
truly beautiful face was calculated to check this de- 
monstration. 

“A hundred thousand dollars in gold! ” ejaculated 
half a dozen voices. 

“ Mercy on us ! what a dreadful loss 1 ” came from 
the lady passenger. “ And your father has nothing 
left?” 

“ Nothing, ma’am ; he had sold all his interest in 
the mines, and this was his whole property.” 

“ How I pity you I Oh, if such villains could be 
brought to justice 1 ” 

“ ’Twar a big jolt I ” said one of the miners. 

“Enough to make a man feel like passing in his 
chips,” said another. 

“ I’d like to get my clutches on the scoundrels,” re- 
marked a third. 

“ Yes ; I remember reading of it,” said the elderly 


THE MYSTERIOUS CAPTURE. 5 

man, ‘‘and how your father — Mr. — your father, no 
doubt it was — Mr. ” 

“ Mercer,” pronounced the girl. 

“ Yes, yes ; how a Mr. Mercer had lost all he pos- 
sessed. It is a shame that such things should be. 
No trace yet, I suppose ? ” 

“ No, sir ; not the least. The robbers vanished, 
and nothing is known of them.” 

“It is a hard case,” suggested the elderly man; 
“there is a great deal of mystery about these rob- 
beries.” 

On all sides there were expressions of sympathy for 
the beautiful young girl so suddenly reduced from 
affluence to poverty. But perhaps the look in the 
kind, pitying eyes of the boy upon the front seat told 
more than all else. 

“ Outrageous ! ” he exclaimed, as if half to himself. 
“ All the earnings of a life-time ! Oh, how I would 
like to hunt the villains down ! ” 

“ No doubt, no doubt,” said the elderly man. “ So 
we all would ; but I fear it would prove a very long 
hunt. So your name,” he added, “is Walter Dayton, 
and you are out on a long vacation, as you say.” 

“ Yes, sir ; I shall not go home for some time.” 

“Has your father ever suffered from these rob- 
beries that are so often taking place ? ” 

“ Yes, once or twice, to the amount of a few thou- 
sands ; but his loss has been nothing in comparison 
to Mr. — Mr. Mercer’s.” And he stole another look at 
the pretty girl’s face. 

Twilight was now closing around, and the stage 
had still far to go. The road seemed to grow wilder 
as evening shut down, and a sense of insecurity was 
apparent among the passengers. 

“Brought your gun along, I presume?” said Wal- 
ter’s elderly friend. “Boys generally love shooting.” 

“Oh, certainly — wouldn’t come along without my 


6 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


rifle ; it’s stowed away on the top of the stage — a re- 
peater, and a very good one, I think.” 

“ How fearfully gloomy it is getting,” said the lady 
passenger. 

“ Yes,” replied the young girl ; “ I hope there are 
no robbers about.” 

“ I hope so too. No wonder you think of them. I 
sympathize with you so much, my dear miss.” 

“ Thank you. It is lonesome. I suppose my father 
is wondering where Maud is to-night.” 

“ Oh-ho,” thought Walter Dayton, “ so her name is 
Maud. Don’t think I shall forget that.” 

Then he guessed that she might be motherless, be- 
cause nothing was said of her mother. And he won- 
dered that the woman did not ask her about it, or 
inquire her destination. But he finally concluded 
that she might have told so much without his hear- 
ing it, before she spoke of the robbery. 

“A hundred thousand dollars in gold ! ” murmured 
a passenger in the darkness, as if he had been dwell- 
ing upon that idea. “That war a big jolt! ” 

And Walter guessed him to be the same miner who 
had called it “ a big jolt ” once before. 

“ Any dust in perticular aboard this stage ? ” que- 
ried another voice. 

“Like enough — reckon the’ may be.” 

“ ’Cause I’m thinking,” said the first, “ that we’m a 
gittin’ into a nice place to onload it, if the’ is. Them 
ar’ road agents might — ” 

“ Mercy ! what a lurch 1 ” said the woman. 

“ Dear me I will the stage upset ? ” asked poor little 
Maud, plaintively. 

“Horses got a sniff at a b’ar,” called the driver 
from his seat, as if he felt lonesome and in need of 
sympathy. 

“Bears! Oh!” 

“ Bears ! For mercy sake ! ” . echoed the other. 


THE MYSTEBIOUS CAPTUKE. 


7 

“ Never fear, ladies,” said one of the men, “ b’ars 
won’t tackle a stage.” 

“ Never knowed ’em to,” remarked another. 

AValter tried to look out from the open window, 
but he was too far forward to reach it. 

“ Begin to feel ticklish ? ” asked the elderly man. 

“ No, sir ; only I thought if there was a grizzly 
about, I would like to see him.” 

“ Your gun is in the wrong place.” 

“Yes ; I thought of that when we were talking 
about the robbers.” 

“ Well, it wouldn’t do you much good, outside or 
in, if they were to show themselves. Best policy to 
take it easy.” 

The horses went very fast for a few minutes, then 
apparently coming to a steep and long ascent, they 
slackened their pace to a walk, and their shod hoofs 
could be heard fairly taking hold of the hard road — 
“ clump, clump, clump ” — as they toiled up. 

The thicket on both sides looked fearfully black, 
and it was pitch dark in the stage. 

The driver still needed all the moral support which 
the consciousness of not being quite alone could give 
him, and once or twice he shouted back an explana- 
tory word or two, loud enough to be heard inside. 

“ Yes ; ’twas grizzlies back thar,” he said. “ Git 
up ! ” and the whip cracked like a pistol. “ ’Bout a 
mile o’ hill now — I hate it ! G’lang ! ” 

“ ’Bout long here’s whar that driver was killed a 
year ago,” remarked some one, consolingly. “ The 
robbers laid in ” 

But the sentence was left unfinished. A terrible 
uproar reigned outside. 

“ Hands up ! ” 

What a cry it was ! Feet tramped, gunlocks clicked, 
and the rays of a dark lantern fell full upon the front 
of the stage. The horses snorted and turned aside. 


8 THE MOUNTAm CAVE. 

then came to a dead stop. There was a strong hand 
upon the bits. 

The men grasped their pistols, the lady passenger 
screamed, and from the dark corner where the young 
girl was seated there came piteous sounds that 
showed how dreadfully frightened she was. 

Walter thought of his gun on the top of the stage. 
Oh, if he but had it now ! 

“Sit still,” said the elderly man, “you can’t do 
anything. See what they want.” 

But even he was clutching his pistol, for the boy’s 
hand touched the barrel as he shifted his position. 

In a moment, however, it could be seen how vain 
was any show of resistance. Three or four rifle muz- 
zles were pointing in at each of the opposite doors of 
the stage, and the driver was already standing on the 
ground, a helpless prisoner. 

Those of the passengers who had weapons surren- 
dered them, and then the whole group, one after an- 
other, descended. As they did so they were flanked 
by the masked robbers and almost touched by the 
rifle muzzles. 

“You’ve got the drop on us and it can’t be helped! ” 
remarked the elderly man grimly, as he looked around 
upon his captors. 

The scene, as revealed by the lantern glare, was a 
confused and strange one. Here and there a captive 
was led aside from the others and roughly interrog- 
ated. Especially was this the case with the elderly 
passenger, who appeared to receive very surly treat- 
ment. 

Walter Dayton saw the stage thoroughly over- 
hauled, and among other things, his superbly finished 
rifle taken from its place to be examined and ad- 
mired. It was a birthday present from his father, and 
he would not have parted with it for a thousand 
dollars. 


THE MYSTEEIOUS CAPTURE. 9 

But most of all, the boy’s attention was directed to 
poor little Maud; for he thought what an ordeal this 
must be to the delicate, sensitive girl. 

One of the robber guards took the liberty to lift 
the brim of her hat. 

“ You are a cowardly scoundrel, ” said Walter, 
boiling over, “ besides being a thief ! ” 

“ Silence ! ” growled the fellow, raising his pistol 
threateningly. 

“Yes ; you may shoot,” said the boy. “I shall say 
what I like.” 

“Oh, please don’t anger them,” said Maud, hur- 
riedly ; “ please don’t ! ” 

“But such villains! It makes me mad! ” 

“ Ygu’re a for’ard youth,” remarked the man with 
the pistol, “ but you’d better keep still. ” 

“ Then be civil ! ” said Walter, as he relapsed into 
silence, but almost unconsciously clenched his fist. 

The rummaging was soon over, and the passengers 
were ordered to resume their journey. Walter was 
about re-entering the stage with the others, when he 
was surprised to find himself forcibly detained by 
the hands of two or three men. 

“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded. 
“ Take off your hands, will you ? ” 

“ Oh, never mind the meaning, ” said a voice. 
“We want you, that’s all. You shall not be hurt; but 
you can’t go in the stage; you must come with us. ” 
He struggled for release, but in vain. The elderly 
man expostulated with the robbers from the stage 
window, and even the young girl raised her voice in 
entreaty; but the only answer was the stern com- 
mand to “ be off, ” made the more imperative by the 
ominous click of firelocks. 

Finding the stage gone, and resistance useless, 
Walter saw the wisdom of accepting the inevitable 
with the best grace he could. His arms were 


10 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


pinioned, and he had now but to accompany the 
robbers, rightly judging that they must have horses 
at no great distance. 

The meaning of his detention was a mystery. Of 
course these desperate men could not have en- 
cumbered themselves with him from mere wanton- 
ness. Yet why he more than another ? He, a boy, 
and wholly unknown to them until this moment ? 

Be their object what it may, however, he still de- 
fied them in spirit. 

“ I’d fight you if I could, ” he said, as he obeyed 
the direction to move, “and I’ll be even with you 
yet ! ” 

The remark elicited no reply; and taking up their 
booty, among which he saw by the lantern light his 
own precious rifle, the beauty of which had so struck 
their fancy, they hurried him away with them. 


CHAPTEK n. 

A WILD RIDE. 

The horses, close under the cover of a thicket, 
were invisible in the darkness till the rays of the 
lantern fell upon them. Then their forms could be 
seen, as they whinnied and pawed the ground with 
impatience. 

“ G-oing to blindfold him ? ” asked one of the rob- 
bers. 

“No,” replied another, who appeared to be the 
leader, “it isn’t necessary as yet.” 

“ I should say not ! ” was the boy’s mental comment, 
as he looked about him at the black thickets and the 
cloudy sky, unable to distinguish one point of the 
compass from another. 

“ I’ll take him up before me for a while,” said the 
last speaker, “ and afterwards some of you may try 
him.” 


A WILD KIDE. 11 

“ A mighty long ride, it must be, if they are going 
to shift me about in that way,” thought Walter. 

As the horses were unfastened and led close to- 
gether, he made them out to be twelve in number, 
and all apparently of a bay color — not a single black 
or white one among them. 

“ I know why that is,” he thought ; “ they can’t be 
seen so far off, and can’t be seen at all in the night 
till a fellow stumbles across them.” 

While these preparations were in progress, he 
would have made a dash for freedom, but for two 
reasons — first, that his arms were bound, and a boy 
cannot run without arms ; and second, that a stout 
ruffian all the while held him with an iron grip. 

The scene reminded him of a circus, and the thick- 
ets seemed to make the tent. 

All else being ready, Walter was lifted upon a 
horse. His arms were now loosed, but to prevent 
the possibility of escape, a stout cord was passed 
from one of his ankles to the other, under the ani- 
mal’s body. 

He felt the humiliation of his position keenly, thus 
to be tied upon a horse like a criminal; but his good 
sense told him that to fight against it would be the 
height of folly. He submitted; but it was with a 
mental reservation that looked beyond the hour. 

“If they should not kill me,” he thought, “my turn 
will come. As sure as I live I will find means to 
bring them to justice ! ” 

The robber who seemed in command now mounted 
behind him ; the lantern was extinguished, and the 
cavalcade set forth. 

At first, for a mile or two, they took the road ; 
then turned aside and continued their way through 
a wild, rough country, which it seemed marvelous 
to the boy that they could so traverse on horseback 
in the darkness. 


12 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“Where was now the stage coach?” he asked 
himself, and was not Maud Mercer at that very 
moment wondering what was his fate? What was 
the oldish man saying of him ? And how long would 
it be ere his case would become generally known ? 
What measures would be taken for his rescue ? 

I must depend on myself, ” he said. “ All the 
police in California would not be able to find me in 
these mountains.” 

Then the thought of Mr. Mercer’s loss recurred to 
him. 

“I guess I am following his treasure box,” he 
mused. “ These are the fellows that got it. A 
hundred thousand dollars in gold! Only about 
eight thousand dollars apiece, after all. But per- 
haps not that, for nobody knows how many more 
there may be in the gang.” 

He had felt too sullenly indignant at first to mani- 
fest any curiosity ; but now he resolved to speak. 

“ AVhat do you want with me ? ” he asked abruptly. 

“No matter now — you will know presently,” re- 
plied the robber. 

“ Do you know who I am ? ” 

“Never mind that.” 

“ Where are you going to take me ? ” 

“You will see when you get there.” 

Walter was high-spirited. He could have struck 
the villain for his curt answers ; and he was sorry 
for having deigned to ask any questions. 

On and on they went for miles, sometimes in what 
seemed open ground, and at other times passing 
through strips of timber, where the great trees, al- 
though they stood wide apart, made almost total 
darkness beneath them. 

“Number Two,” said the leader at length ; “you 
may give me a spell now ; your horse may as well 
carry double as mine.” 


A WILD BIDE. 


13 


The squad halted, and the transfer was quickly ac- 
complished. Walter taking up his position in front 
of “Number Two,” though not till he had made one 
desperate effort to escape, and been half strangled 
by a grasp upon his throat. 

It seemed as if the ride would be interminable. It 
must be long, he knew, to require this shifting. 

“ Look but for him,” said “ Number One,” as he re- 
signed his charge to the other ; “he’s slippery.” 

“Well, you just fasten that ankle good and 
strong,” replied “ Number Two ;” “ and he’s got to 
take the horse with him if he leaves ! ” 

Accustomed as the robbers were to the country, 
they still found extreme difficulty in many places, 
having at times to pick their way with great cau- 
tion. 

Once there was a sudden commotion among them, 
and three or four of the headmost poured a rapid 
fusillade through the darkness. An ugly roar close 
to them set all the horses to dancing, and then some 
heavy animal rushed forward, but fell as he did so, 
and lay floundering upon the ground. 

“ Fetched him ! ” cried one of the men who had 
fired. “A derned good shot in the dark! It’s a 
grizzly 1 ” 

There was some confusion, and various questions 
and exclamations were heard. 

“Whar is he?” 

“ Whoa, John I ” 

“ Dead?” 

“Whoa, Bill!” 

“ Eight hyar in front of us ! ” 

“ Whoa, Dick ! ” 

The horses gave him a wide berth as they passed 
on, snuffing the air and snorting. 

Walter almost forgot that he was a prisoner, in the 
excitement of the thing. But the robbers were not 


14 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


on a bear hunt, and hurried forward without even 
dismounting to examine their game. 

The moon at length rose, and about the same time, 
much to the boy’s relief, he judged from a remark of 
one of the band that they were getting near their 
place of retreat. 

Presently they halted, and a bandage was put over 
Walter’s eyes, while his arms were pinioned to pre- 
vent him from raising it. 

Still he kept a stout heart, and tried to think only 
of the day when he should stand as a witness in some 
court of justice, and testify of all this. “ It will 
come,” he said to himself ; “ it ivill come if I live ! ” 

For what seemed a mile further, the party contin- 
ued on horseback, then dismounted ; and Walter felt 
himself led through ways that he knew must be very 
intricate. 

At last a halt was reached, and then, as the ban- 
dage was taken from his eyes, he found himself in 
what seemed a prison of solid rock. There were lan- 
terns burning, revealing three or four masked men, 
who stood looking curiously upon him as if to enjoy 
his surprise. 


CHAPTEK m. 

THE PRICE OF A REFUSAL. 

For a moment the lad glanced about the gloomy 
den in a bewildered manner ; but he quickly re- 
covered himself. Indignation was still uppermost in 
his mind, and he felt a grim determination not to 
gratify his captors by any show of astonishment, 
much less of fear. 

“Well, boy,” said one of the masked men, whose 
voice Walter recognized as that of the supposed 
leader ; “ what do you think of it as far as you have 
gone ? ” 


THE PBICE OF A EEPUSAL. 15 

“ I think it a cowardly outrage,” replied the lad, 
defiantly. 

“ So you are not afraid of us, you young fool ? ” 

“ No ; I’m not afraid of you ; and I don’t think that 
I am a fool, either.” 

“Well, you may have reason to change your mind 
in both respects. You are in terrible hands, and in 
a terrible place.” 

“ I would rather be in my place than yours.” 

“ You are a plucky one, but you are where pluck 
won’t count you much.” 

“ That I cannot help.” 

“ Your father is worth five hundred thousand dol- 
lars.” 

“ How do you know ? ” 

“ I do know.” 

“Well, and what of it?” 

“ His name is Edward Dayton, and your name is 
Walter Dayton.” 

“Yes.” 

“ All right ; I only wanted to start fair. Are you 
hungry ? ” 

“ No.” 

“ You have had a long ride, and here is enough to 
eat, you see. If you keep a civil tongue in your 
head and obey directions, you will be well treated.” 

“I want nothing to eat here,” said Walter. “I 
want only to know what all this means.” 

“ That’s very natural, and we’ll see about it pres- 
ently,” replied the robber. 

He then led his prisoner to another part of the 
den, and left him with only a lantern for company. 

Beginning to realize that he was very tired, Walter 
threw himself down upon something which had the 
appearance of a rude couch ; but he could not sleep. 

He thought over his journey in the stage coach, 
and recalled all that had been said of the mysterious 


16 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


robbers. He remembered the faces of the passen- 
gers. Who was the elderly man, so calm and sensi- 
ble — so sociable from the very first ? 

Walter started at this point in his cogitations. 

“ I told him my name,'*’ he said to himself, “ and 
then he seemed to know about my father. These 
robbers know my fathers name and mine. That’s 
very singular — looks queer. I did not say how much 
property my father has, but I thought the old gen- 
tleman seemed to know — and now the robbers know 
too. Perhaps he dropped something by accident. 
But why should he have mentioned me unless they 
asked him ? And why should they have asked him ? 
Why should they have treated me so roughly and 
taken me so far apart ? 

“It looks as if they expected my father to pay 
them something for me — I have heard of such things. 
I wish I could see their faces ! I don’t think they 
all stopped at this place — some of them kept on. I 
wonder what they have done with the gold they 
stole from Mr. Mercer ? ” 

Several weary hours were passed in these reflec- 
tions ; then Walter heard a stir in the outer part of 
the cavern, and presently robber Number One made 
his appearance. 

“ Been asleep ? ” he asked. 

“No.” 

“Not used to roughing it, probably?” 

“No ; but I’m glad I don’t have to wear a mask.” 

“Boy,” said the robber; “you have something to 
learn. I suppose you have always done as you 
would ; now you are where you will do as you must 
I’ll have no fooling. Your father is worth a great 
deal of money, and if he is ever to see you again, he 
must pay for the privilege.” 

“Indeed — that seems hard,” said Walter. 

“ Here is a letter to him,” continued the villain ; 


THE PRICE OF A REFUSAL. 


17 


which you will copy and sign. We could do very 
well without your hand in the matter, but I prefer 
to take this way.” 

Walter read the epistle, which was not a very long 
one, but couched in moving terms. It painted his 
condition as very painful, and likely to become still 
worse. In short, it was an appeal artfully calculated 
to fill his parents with distraction. It referred to a 
letter from the robbers, which was to accompany it, 
and humbly begged that their demands might be 
complied with. His father was to deposit eighty 
thousand dollars in bonds, according to given direc- 
tions ; and the least suspicion of treachery would be 
fatal. 

“ I would not have my mother read this for all the 
world ! ” thought Walter. 

‘‘ Now come with me to the outer room,” directed 
the robber. 

Walter obeyed. 

“ There are pen, ink and paper on that table ; you 
will sit down there and copy what you have read,” 
said Number One, while other masked men stood 
around in silence. 

“ You expect me to copy that letter ? ” remarked 
Walter, interrogatively. 

“ Yes ; and to ask no more questions.” 

“ Suppose I refuse ! ” 

“ Kef use ! What are you talking of ? ” 

“ But if I should say 1 won’t do it ? ” 

“ I’d blow your brains out in an instant ! No more 
words ! Sit down and do as I tell you ! ” 

And Number One jerked a pistol from his belt 
with his right hand, while with his left he slapped 
the paper savagely as it lay on the table. 

“I shall not sign it! ” said Walter, decisively. 

The robber’s face could not be seen, but his man- 
ner was that of an infuriated tiger. His pistol was a 


18 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


revolver of the heaviest class, and he leveled it full 
at the hoy’s head, with his stout, muscular arm. 

All the others drew their weapons at the same mo- 
ment. 

Walter’s face was pale, but there was the fire of an 
unshaken determination in his eyes. 

“I give you one more chance,” said the robber. 
“ Will you sign the letter ? ” 

“Wo.'” 

He could look right into the black muzzle, but the 
single word he spoke was full and clear and deter- 
mined. 

“ If I am to die,” he thought, “ I cannot help it. 
I will be true to myself ; that is in my power. ” 

For perhaps half a minute the pistol remained 
pointing into his face ; then it was quickly reversed, 
and with its butt a stunning blow was dealt him upon 
the head. 

Walter fell to the ground, but consciousness was 
suspended only for a moment. As he revived he 
heard a few words of conversation between the rob- 
bers. 

“ I don’t want the old gentleman to pick out boys 
for me,” said one ; this ’ere’s the wust mule I ever 
see.” 

“ I don’t care so much about the money,” remarked 
Number One. “I don’t like the breed. It’s an old 
debt, you know.” 

“ Had we better take him away to the cave ? ” asked 
a voice. 

“No he’s just as well here. If he should live to 
report, he’ll tell only of this place.” 

“ What you goin’ to do with him ? ” 

“ Do ? I’m going to starve him to it ; it won’t take 
long — that’ll fetch him.” 

“ But what’s the use of his signing ? ” 

“O, ’twould work on the old folks’ feelings — ^be 


THE PKICE OF A REFUSAL. 19 

<-ure to bring the dust. His mother — and all that, 
you know ” 

“ ’Course, she’d insist upon plankin’ down the pile 
right off.” 

“ Certainly she would. Ha, ha, he’s hearing every 
word we say, I believe ! Coming to, eh ? ” 

Number One jerked the victim savagely to his feet, 
and pushed him towards the table. 

“Now take that pen and write,” he roared ; “or 
I’ll give you another rap on the head. Will you do 
it?” 

“ No,” said the boy. “ I tell you once for all that 
I imU not ! ” 

The ruffian raised his pistol as if for a blow, but 
restrained himself. 

“ No, I won’t do that,” he said ; “ I know how to 
cook your goose. Starvation will bring you to it. 
You don’t get a morsel to eat or drink till that pa- 
per is copied and signed. You may not be very 
hungry now, but you will be in course of a week or 
two.” 

“My body is in your power,” said Walter; “but 
my soul ” 

“ And your soul, too, you will find ! Come along — 
I have had enough of this ! ” And the scoundrel, 
grasping the boy by the collar, pushed him violently 
into a sort of closet, which he proceeded to barri- 
cade, leaving only a small opening at the top, about 
the height of Walter’s chin. 

Nothing could be more forlorn than his position, 
but still his sensitive heart scorned the idea of 
yielding to the demands of these low villains. 
Kesentment, self-respect, and the loathing he felt 
for his persecutors, all contributed to uphold 
him. , 

“ There,” said the enraged robber ; “ it is starve or 
sign. You can take your choice.” 


20 


THE MOUNTAIN CAYE. 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE TEMPTATION OF WATER. 

As the man turned and left him, Walter felt his 
situation to be trying beyond description ; yet he 
was by no means without hope. The fellows, he ar- 
gued, could gain nothing by putting him to death, 
but, on the contrary, would thereby defeat their own 
project. Besides, his signature, however it might 
facilitate their purpose, was not indispensable to it. 
It was, therefore, on his part, only a question of en- 
durance. 

Should the whole thing miscarry,” he said, and 
all hope of the money be given up, there is no know- 
ing how I might fare at last ; but be that as it may, 
they shall never have my assistance in the work. 
Eighty thousand dollars from my father ! It is more 
than I am worth ! I hope he will . never pay it. To 
think of gratifying these scheming outlaws by pay- 
ing them money to let me go ! ” 

But he thought of his mother, and his feelings were 
torturing, as he imagined what she might suffer. 

“ She will be frantic over it,” he reflected. “ She 
will feel more in an hour than these scamps would 
be capable of suffering in a whole lifetime. She will 
neither eat nor sleep.” 

What a wretched predicament he had got into ! 
“But I will be true to myself,” he added; “I am 
entirely decided on that point, come what may ! Who 
knows but I may somehow bring these robbers to 
justice ? I will if I ever get out of their hands ! ” 

This last idea had all along been prominent in his 
mind. It was associated with the thought of poor 
little Maud Mercer and her father’s bitter misfor- 
tune, and so appealed to him with double power. 


THE TEMPTATION OF WATER. 


21 


If lie could only be tbe means of helping her ! 

The thought, even in his forlorn condition, was 
thrilling and sustaining. 

Again his ride in the stage coach was passed in re- 
view, and each face recalled. “That elderly man,” 
he mused ; “ I wonder who he could have been, and 
if he really did say anything about me to the gang. 
I wonder where he is now — and I wonder where the 
girl is, too. I wish she had said something about 
her destination.” 

In such reflections a number of hours were passed. 
Walter could occasionally hear a stir in some other 
part of the den, but there were no indications of re- 
lease. 

Finally, he fell asleep ; though he would once have 
supposed it impossible to do so in a situation so 
truly discouraging. But his powers of mental con- 
trol were greater than he might have supposed, and 
he was, besides, extremely tired. 

The dreariness of awakening in this wretched 
prison was trying beyond measure, for his excitement 
was now gone, and he had only to think of his posi- 
tion. 

It seemed to him that his nap must have been 
somewhat long. He felt no great desire for food, 
but he was oppressed by thirst. 

“ How long can I live without water ? ” he asked 
himself ; and the question suggested some dubious 
anticipations. Nevertheless his resolve remained un- 
shaken. 

Presently a footstep approached. 

“Well, my young friend, how are you enjoying 
yourself ? ” asked a voice, which he knew to be that 
of Number One. 

There was no answer. 

“ Are you asleep ? ” asked the robber. 

“No.” 


22 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“ Do you want food or water ? ” 

“ I would like a drink of water.” 

“ Are you ready to do what I require ? ” 

“ What is that ? ” 

“ To sign the letter.” 

“ No.” 

“ Here is a plenty to eat, and here is a plenty to 
drink ; you have only to transcribe the letter and 
sign it, and you may feast to your heart’s content. 
What do you say ? ” 

“ I say that I will not (h) it ! ” 

“ If you are thirsty now, you will be a good deal 
more thirsty by and by. You will have to sign at 
last, and you would save yourself much suffering by 
doing it now.” 

“ If you have nothing more to say,” replied Walter, 
“you may as well leave me. I shall not sign! ” 

“Very well; we will see!” was the robber’s re- 
mark as he turned away. 

“ What I may suffer,” thought Walter, “ will make 
no difference to my resolution. They will not let me 
die ; I know that very well ; but even if I did not 
know it, I would be just as much determined.” 

He then heard the robbers talking with each 
other, and could at times catch whole sentences of 
their conversation. 

“ He is one of the boys that we read of,” said Num- 
ber One. “Why, he is a real Andrew Jackson! I 
can’t help respecting the fellow- What a chap he 
would make for our profession ! ” 

“O, he has pluck enough,” remarked another, 
“ but he will give in at last. He can’t stand this sort 
of thing a great while.” 

“ Certainly not,” replied Number One ; “ but then 
it is of no great consequence whether he signs or 
not. I can fix all that.” 

But here, as the speaker went on, his voice fell so 


THE TEMPTATION OF WATEB. 


23 


that "Walter caught only fragments of his remarks. 
The robber appeared to be speaking of some one 
whom he expected at the place, and whose aid would 
be all that he would require. 

“ Yes,” he said, “ he will do it. Why, man, he 
could fool the president of a bank. They’ll certainly 
think it all right. I want you to see a specimen ; it 
will be a curiosity to you.” 

“ O, I know he beats everything in that line,” re- 
plied the other. “ It will answer all purposes, no 
doubt.” 

“ Yes,” said Number One, and now I don’t care 
for the other at all ; this trick will serve our turn, 
and the boy’s stubbornness won’t matter.” 

“ Ah, ha ! ” thought Walter, “ some trick ! Well, at 
least I shall not be responsible for what they do. I 
shall know that I did not do it, and they will know it, 
too ; so their victory will be all outside, and that is 
no victory at all.” 

He thought, with a kind of heart-swelling, of the 
lines of Burns : 

“ The honest man, though e’er sa’ poor, 

Is king o’ men, for a’ that.” 

The want of water soon came to be a very serious 
matter. 

“ I wish I could stop thinking about it,” Walter 
said to himself ; but still there was not the least 
wavering in his determination. The robbers should 
see that no amount of suffering could bring him to 
their terms. 

“ I’ll teach them a thing or two,” he added, spite- 
fully. “ They may rob express trains and stages, but 
they shan’t rob me of myself. I set them just as 
much at defiance as if I were ever so free.” 

Then he went on thinking of shipwrecked crews 
who could get no water ; and imagined what a beau- 
tiful sight a running stream must be to them as they 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


approached some unknown shore. He wondered 
that he had not thought more of the ^precious fluid 
when he could get enough of it ; and he could easily 
understand how thirst becomes far more dreadful 
than hunger to those who are deprived of both food 
and water. 

After some hours there seemed to be a consulta- 
tion in the cave such as he had not previously re- 
marked. Low voices were talking very earnestly, 
and he imagined that he could hear Number One 
explaining some matter and giving directions con- 
cerning it. 

You can easily do it,” he heard the robber say, 
“and they will never know the difference.” 

Another weary season of suspense, and then Num- 
ber One again presented himself. 

“ You spoke of wanting water,” he said. “ Are you 
ready to do my bidding? ” 

“No,” said Walter, “and you may set your heart 
at rest that I never shall be ready. I want water, 
but I will die before I will sell my independence 

“But here it is,” said the robber, “right in my 
hand, good and cool ; and here is the paper in the 
other hand. Certainly you will not die a lingering 
death for mere stubbornness.” And he held up the 
tempting liquid. 

“I have told you my determination,” said Walter, 
“ and that is enough. I despise j^ou and your gang 
of thieves, as I despise all cowards and villains.” 

There was not the least frenzy manifested in the 
boy’s words ; nothing but a cool, unhesitating de- 
flance. 

The robber chief was surprised rather than angry. 

“ Don’t you know,” he said, “ that you are entirely 
in my power ? ” 

“No.” 


A MYSTEKIOUS FORGEKY. 


25 


“ Suppose I give you no water ? ” 

“Then I shall not have any.” 

“ Then why are you not in my power ? ” 

“ Because I think for myself, and will say what I 
please.” 

“So you think the mind of more consequence than 
the body?” 

“ Yes, I do — of a million times more consequence.” 

“ That might be all well enough in a sermon,” said 
Number One, “ but it would amount to nothing if I 
were hard-hearted enough to push matters, or, 
rather, if I had any necessity for pushing matters.” 

“ That is your way of looking at it,” said Walter. 

“ And it would be yours, too, if I were disposed to 
make it so.” 

“Very well,” remarked Walter, calmly, “you can 
try me and see ! ” 

The masked robber turned away, carrying back 
the pitcher of water and the paper ; but in a few mo- 
ments he again stood before Walter’s cell, and the 
boy was surprised to see him set about tearing down 
the barricade. 

“ You may come out,” said the brigand. “ My last 
appeal to you was only experimental. I wished to 
see if you still held out. The matter has all been 
fixed for the last two hours, and I have no need of 
your assistance. On the table yonder are food and 
drink, and you are free to help yourself. W’'hen you 
are comfortable again I will show you a specimen of 
penmanship that will make you think ydu must have 
written something in your sleep.” 


CHAPTER V. 

A MYSTERIOUS FORGERY. 

As Walter sat down at the robbers’ table, he was 
careful to ask himself the mental question as to 


26 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


whether there was any humiliation in obeying the 
brigand’s command by so doing. 

“ No,” he reasoned, “ I have not yielded anything ; 
I have even gained a victory. I have shown them 
that they cannot make me obey them. If they were 
to tell me that I must say even so simple a thing as 
‘thank you,’ before eating this meal, I would not 
touch a mouthful.” 

The cool spring water in the pitcher nerved and 
revived him exceedingly ; and looking about him he 
saw that the outlet of the cavern was secured by a 
rude door, which under the present circumstances, at. 
least, precluded any chance of escape. The robbers 
still wore their masks, on account, as he believed, of 
his presence. 

“ I wish I could catch them bare-faced,” he 
thought ; “ but no doubt they will take good care 
not to let me do it.” 

“Now,” said Number One, when Walter had 
finished his meal ; “ I will show you how easily we 
road agents bring to pass whatever we desire.” 

“ But one of your desires was to make me beg my 
father to give you eighty thousand dollars.” 

“ True ; and you wouldn’t do it ; so we have got 
on without your help — that is what I mean to say — 
we have more than one string to our bow, you must 
ui^derstand.” 

He then held out for the boy’s inspection what 
seemed a letter ; but still kept fast hold of it, as if 
afraid that his strange and willful prisoner might 
otherwise tear it in pieces. 

Walter saw that it was a transcript of the letter to 
his father which had already been shown him. But 
how great was his surprise to perceive that the 
writing presented a perfect fac-simile of his own 
hand, with his name at the bottom, looking in every 
particular as if he himself had placed it there. 


A MYSTEEIOUS FORaEKY . 27 

“ I think that it is rather well done,” said the 
robber. 

“ It is a villainous forgery ! ” said Walter. “ And 
you mean to send this letter to my father as mine ? ” 

“ Certainly, that is why I have had it transcribed.” 

“ But who could have known anything of my hand- 
writing ? How could my autograph or anything of 
the kind have been got at ? There was not a scrap 
of writing of any description about me when I came 
here, that I was aware of.” 

“ O, there is a mountain spirit that tells us these 
things,” replied the robber. “ Should you remain 
with us long enough, you would find that nothing is 
hidden from us which we wish to know.” 

Walter was too stubbornly proud to manifest sur- 
prise, so he simply entered his protest. 

“ So you will send that letter ? ” he said. 

“ Yes, of course I shall ; it is exactly what I have 
wanted.” 

“Well, some day the tables will be turned. I tell 
you not to send it ; and I hope my father will pay no 
regard to it if he should get it.” 

The robber laughed. 

“ I rather like your courage,” he said, “ but your 
protest will be ‘ tabled,’ as they say in Congress. It 
can’t be considered at present. We’ll get the 
eighty thousand first, and let such matters come af- 
terwards.” 

Of course, Walter had no idea that anything he 
could say would affect the result ; but he felt like 
doing his whole duty in the premises and following 
up his line of conduct to the last. 

“ Now,” said Number One, “ that letter goes off im- 
mediately. Our presiding genius will see it lodged 
in the mail, and the eighty thousand dollars will be 
forthcoming.” 

“ I hope not,” said Walter. 


28 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“So you would rather stay here as long as you 
live than have your father ransom you ? ” 

“I would rather take my chance,” said the boy. 
“ My father should not pay for me if I could help 
it.” 

“ Where did you get your ideas in this respect ? ” 
asked Number One, who used remarkably good lan- 
guage for one of his profession. 

“I suppose they were born with me,” replied Wal- 
ter. “ I don’t remember any time when I wouldn’t 
have thought the same.” 

“ You haven’t much respect for the Dick Turpin 
and Tom King school, I should judge.” 

“I think you have some reason to judge so.” 

“ You don’t believe the world owes you a living ? ” 

“Not unless I earn it.” 

“You are right there ; it owes nobody a living. I 
make no such hackneyed pretenses. Your father 
must pay me the eighty thousand dollars because I 
have the power to compel him.” 

“ But you haven’t got it yet, and I hope you won’t 
get it.” 

“ Boy,” said the robber, “ you will have nothing to 
fear — if I get the money” And there was an ominous 
emphasis on the last clause. 

What would be done in the opposite case was left 
for Walter to conjecture. They might keep him 
prisoner for a very long time, or they might even 
take his life. 

He looked about the strange place, calculating the 
chances of escape. It seemed a hole among vast 
loose rocks which had been tumbled together by 
some natural convulsion, leaving all manner of nooks 
and sharp turnings. 

“ It is a real rabbit’s burrow,” he thought. 

“ A queer place, isn’t it ? ” said the robber, who fol- 
lowed the glances of the young prisoner’s eyes. 


A DIZZY LEAP. 29 

‘‘You would hardly know how to get out without 
a pilot.” 

“ But I know well enough you cannot all live in 
this hole,” replied Walter. 

“ So, should you ever get back to civilization, you 
wouldn’t know just where to find us again, you 
think ? ” 

“ No ; I certainly should not expect to find you 
here.” 

“ Just so ; I think we can afford to sell this bur- 
row for eighty thousand dollars. That is what we 
expect to get for it.” 

“ You had a dozen horses.” 

“ Yes ; and you are wondering where the stable is.” 

“I don’t think that horses would climb these 
focks.” 

“ Hardly ; but the less questions you ask the bet- 
ter we shall get along.” 

And Number One, who during this colloquy had 
placed the forged letter in an envelope, together with 
some writing of his own, now arose and left the cav- 
ern. 

Two of the robbers remained, having, no doubt, 
received directions to keep a good watch on the cap- 
tive. They were playing cards near the door, and 
while they were going on with the game, Walter lay 
down upon a couch, as if tired and sleepy. 


CHAPTER VI. 

A DIZZY LEAP. 

There seemed not the least probability of imme- 
diate escape, yet the boy was alert for any relaxation 
of vigilance on the part of his keepers. 

They had evidently been engaged at their game 
for a long time, and were apparently getting weary 
of it 


30 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


At length they gave it up, making a few languid 
observations upon the dullness of such a life. Then, 
presently, each took a pamphlet, probably of some 
trashy literature, and commenced reading to him- 
self. 

Walter put on an appearance of great drowsiness — 
pretending to fight against it, but seeming at last to 
fall asleep. 

The men nodded over their books, losing them- 
selves for a moment or two, then starting and staring 
around. A faint hope arose in the boy’s mind as he 
noticed this. The door, he believed, was not fastened, 
and could he once pass the fellows, he would stake 
all upon a rush for liberty, even if they were then to 
discover his movement. 

Longer and longer grew the cat-naps, but the de- 
pendence to be placed upon their continuance was 
precarious indeed. 

“ I’ll try it,” at length he thought ; “ I don’t dare 
to wait longer ; they may rally and keep awake.” 

He placed his feet carefully upon the ground, but 
his heart thumped very hard as he did so. As he 
passed the two men, the book held by one of them 
slid from the sleeper’s hand. Walter was prepared 
to make a desperate spring forward, in spite of the 
pistol shots that might follow him, when he perceived 
that the fellow did not even stir. 

“ I guess they are both sound asleep,” he thought ; 
and now, for the first time, his hope of escape became 
strong. 

To open the door without noise was an operation 
that made a severe demand on his nerves ; but he 
performed it with a steady hand, and closing it after 
him, sped away with rapid but stealthy footsteps. 

He was now under the open sky, but the passages 
among the rocks were so tortuous and difficult as to 
perplex him greatly. What if the two robbers were 



WALTEu ATTEMPTS AN ESCAPE. See page 3U 



32 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


to awake and pursue him ? Wliat if he were to meet 
others face to face, while thus leaping or climbing 
along? 

It did not take him long, however, to reach more 
open ground, though he still had not the least idea 
of the direction he ought to follow. 

“ At all events, I am free,” he said, “ and I mean to 
keep so. I don’t believe they would ever be able to 
catch me if I were to fall in with ever so many of 
them. I wish to report at some station as soon as 
possible, but I don’t know how far I may be from any 
settlement, and I am just as likely to be going the 
wrong way as the right one.” 

In this state of uncertainty he continued his 
course, walking very fast, when suddenly, as he was 
ascending a ridge partially overgrown with bushes, 
the sound of a human voice startled him. It was 
close at hand ; and almost instantly the heads of two 
men appeared among the rocks and scrubby growth 
in front. 

To retreat unobserved was impossible, and Walter 
settled quietly in his tracks like a rabbit. The men 
paused a few yards away, standing upon a rock. Of 
the face of one of them, the hoy had a plain view, but 
that of the other he could not well see at the mo- 
ment. 

“ Of course, it will work like a charm,” said the 
first mentioned, as if continuing a conversation. 
“ They will not let the boy remain in our hands a day 
longer than necessary, I feel very sure of that.” 

“ Ha ! ” Walter said to himself ; ‘‘ I have heard that 
voice before, and that within the last two hours. 
Number One without his mask ! Old fellow, I have 
you now — provided you haven’t got me ! Strait nose, 
broad between the eyes ; and — there, he takes his hat 
oT to fan himself — retreating forehead. O, I shall 
ftot forget that head and face ! How sharp his e^es 


A DIZZY LEAP. 


33 


are, and what a smooth-looking villain he is alto- 
gether ! ” 

“ I’m in hopes everything will go well,” remarked 
the other. “There was a great rumpus about the 
boy when the stage people reported, and there’s no 
telling what may turn up to interfere with us.” 

It seemed to Walter that he had somewhere heard 
that voice, also. 

“ Queer that I should have happened to see Mer- 
cer’s daughter in the stage,” continued the speaker — 
“ and this boy, too. Well, I’ve paid off that old debt. 
I told Dayton I’d be even with him for his testi- 
mony.” 

“ The boy was surprised to see how you had coun- 
terfeited his hand,” said Number One. “ I told him 
it was done by the Spirit of the Mountains.” 

“ Some other people have reason to remember that 
spirit,” was the reply. “ I wonder what can have be- 
come of poor Gerald? Well, I had to do it, you 
know.” 

As he spoke, the man turned his face so that Wal- 
ter had a full view of it. After what he had heard, 
the sight of that face gave him no surprise, and he 
said only : 

“ The old villain ! I could see him strung up to 
the nearest tree! To think of his remonstrating 
with the robbers and begging them not to carry me 
off 1 ” 

Of course he was the “ elderly man ” of the stage 
coach ; and no doubt poor little Maud Mercer stiU 
remembered him with respect. 

Number One and his companion were about mov- 
ing off when Walter was startled by the sound of 
footsteps in his rear, and turning, beheld two masked 
men close upon his track. They saw him as he 
looked around, but the next moment he had sprung 
out of their sight like a deer. 


84 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“ Hello ! ” they cried to the other, who seemed not 
to have discovered their approach till now, ‘‘ stop that 
boy ! stop him ! stop him ! ” 

What a race it was ! Walter sped around rocks, 
dived through thickets, leaped over chasms. He was 
a strong, agile youth, and had often out-jumped and 
out-run all the boys at school. 

His four pursuers spread out to increase their 
chances, and shouted to confuse him, though they 
did not fire their guns. 

Soon, however, he had so distanced them that they 
could catch glimpses of him only at brief intervals, 
though they continued the j)ursuit, “ out-flanking ” 
him in such a manner that he could not turn 
aside. 

The way directly ahead was very difficult ; and 
upon this circumstance they probably fixed their 
hopes of finally overtaking him. He saw himself sud- 
denly confronted by a high cliff which had been hid- 
den by some tall cedars growing near it ; but leaping 
from crag to crag, he soon managed to gain a shelf- 
like projection a number of rods wide. 

Along this he ran, looking vainly for a place to 
get higher or lower. It was broken, jagged and 
dangerous. He saw two of his pursuers behind ; but 
he still hoped for some avenue of escape. 

Presently an abrupt turn was reached,, so that the 
robbers were left wholly out of sight. 

“ It must end soon,” he thought, “ at some place 
where I can scramble up or down.” 

Yet he could see nothing that looked like such an 
ending. 

After passing the turn, he perceived that a moun- 
tain torrent was rushing on beneath that part of the 
cliff where he now was. But how far below him it 
seemed as it leaped along the gorge ! 

“ I may be in a trap ! ” he thought, hastily ; “ those 


A DIZZY LEAP. 


35 


fellows are close behind ; and if the shelf should run 
out to nothing, what could I do ? I should be caught 
like a rat in a trap ! ” 

He looked around and saw that the two men in his 
rear had passed the turn of the rock. Still, however, 
he sprang forward, hoping for the best, and keeping 
a sharp eye ahead for some stair of escape either up 
or down. 

“ At the worst,” he thought, “ there is the water. 
If the rock would only slant closer to it — if it wasn’t 
quite so far below — or if I knew it to be deep 
enough ! Perhaps it is very shallow, and I might go 
down upon sharp stones ! ” 

Again he looked around. 

“I can outrun them — they’ll never overtake me 
while the way keeps open in front ! ” Such hope- 
ful thoughts as this darted through his mind. 

He sprang on, though still not free from the terri- 
ble suspicion of a trap. Once more he looked be- 
hind ; but as he did so there was a shout right ip 
front that drew his glance from the rear. 

He stopped short, with a mental shock that for the 
moment amounted to despair. 

Two of the robbers had come leaping out upon the 
shelf directly ahead of him ! They must have cut 
across the cliff above, by some path well known to 
them ; and they had now emerged at a gap which he 
had been on the very point of reaching ! 

Both parties of his enemies now slackened their 
speed and approached at a walk. He was between 
them, and they were sure of him. 

He looked over the shelf and saw the torrent 
sweeping on more than a hundred feet below, eddy- 
ing and boiling under the cliff, which arched a little 
over it. But how narrow it looked from that height ! 
Indeed, it seemed as if in leaping straight outward, 
one would be in danger of landing beyond it. With 


36 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


Walter, to think was to decide ; and to decide was to 
act at once. 

“ I must do it,” he said ; “ there is no other hope. 
The water looks deep, and perhaps I may not strike 
the bottom very hard.” Yet it thrilled him to think 
of that rush through the air. 

The robbers could scarcely believe their eyes as 
they saw him prepare for the tremendous leap. 

“ Hold, you youngster ! ” cried Number One ; “ don’t 
be a fool ! What are you thinking of ? ” 

A thought of “little Jack, the captain’s son,” who 
leaped from the truck of Old Ironsides, flashed like 
lightning through Walter’s mind. It came like an 
inspiration, as if to tell him that the ordeal would 
not be fatal. 

“ I must keep my feet close together,” he thought, 
“with the toes pointed downward.” 

Without the delay of another moment, he sprang 
from his foothold, and his body, straight as an arrow, 
went rushing through the air. He felt himself strike 
the water and shoot through it to the bottom, but 
was never able to recollect what followed. 

Had the reader stood as a spectator below, he 
might have seen the robbers creep to the edge of the 
cliff and peer over. 

“ There is no chance for him,” said Number One, 
“ even if the shock hasn’t killed him outright. See ! 
there he floats — ^but he seems to be stunned. Now 
he is gone again ! ” 

“Stunned or not,” said the elderly man, “he won’t 
be able to get out of that torrent.” 

“ There he is once more,” said the other, “ away yon- 
der! And there he goes out of sight 1 Well, it can’t 
be helped — it’s better than to have had him es- 
cape.” 

“ But our scheme must go on just the same,” said 
the older robber. 


A PAINFUL UNCEKTAINTY. 


37 


“ Certainly ; and ’twill be all the safer for us. I 
didn’t intend just this, but at all events we shall not 
have to return him to his friends to tell tales.” 

“ No ; we are safe there,” was the reply. 

And so the cold, calculating outlaws gave up their 
victim. 


CHAPTER Vn. 

A PAINFUL UNCERTAINTY. 

Walter’s last sensations had been those of suffo- 
cation and struggling, and when consciousness be- 
gan to return, his thoughts were sadly confused. 

“ Where am I ? ” he asked himself, “ and Avhat has 
happened to me ? ” 

It seemed to him that he must have met with 
some dreadful accident ; but he had not the least 
recollection of it. 

Soon, however, the remembrance dawned upon 
him ; and, as it did so, a terrible apprehension shot 
through his mind. 

AVas he again in the robbers’ cave ? Surely he 
had good reason to suppose so from what he could 
see about him. 

It was certainly a cavern of some sort ; and though 
the gloomy room in which he found himself was 
not the one from which he had evidently escaped, 
might it not make only another portion of A:he same 
fearful den? 

No human form was to be seen, but there were 
lamps burning which revealed the weirdness of the 
place. 

The room was irregular and very large ; and Wal- 
ter was struck by the appearance, in different parts 
of it, of what he at first took to be living animals. 

There were a bear, a puma, a wildcat, and a 
mountain sheep. What a strange family! Then, 


38 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


too, perched a few yards from his couch, he saw an 
immense owl, with great, staring eyes ; while a rattle- 
snake, not less than seven feet long, occupied a posi- 
tion against the wall of rock, at some height from the 
floor, as if it had climbed there. 

None of these objects, however, appeared to stir ; 
the snake made no progress along the wall, and the 
bear uttered no growl. So that Walter, in spite of 
his feeble and bewildered condition, could not help 
perceiving that they must be only stuffed specimens. 
No huge “ grizzly ” or puma had carried him to its 
hole among the rocks. 

Walter found it difficult to move, and he realized 
that he was very weak and sore. 

“ So they have got me, after all,” he said, “ and no 
doubt they will take good care that I shall not es- 
cape a second time.” 

The reflection was bitter and humiliating. 

“It is too bad!” he thought, “to have them tri- 
umph in this manner after all my efforts. If I had 
not become insensible, I could have kept out of their 
way.” 

However, he could not yet think very clearly, or 
realize his failure as he might have done at another 
time. 

Presently a footstep was heard, and he saw the 
figure of a man moving about the room. 

“ There is one of them,” he thought. “ He has no 
mask on. I’ll take a good look at his face before he 
discovers that I am awake.” And again, feeble as 
he was, the old idea of a final reckoning and triumph 
took possession of him. 

It seemed as if the mere sight of the-robber gave 
him strength, for it aroused the sense of antagonism, 
and brought him back to himself. 

As the man stood revealed by the lamplight, he 
was not at all prepossessing in appearance. A full 


A PAINFUL UNCERTAINTY. 


39 


beard, reaching to his breast, gave his face a look of 
ferocity, which was increased by the effect of the 
long, Indian-like hair that floated in a wild mass 
over his shoulders. 

Yet evidently he was not an Indian, for he had the 
features and complexion of a white man. 

His dress consisted of moccasins, buckskin trou- 
sers, and blue flannel shirt, without vest or coat. He 
was, moreover, a muscular and somewhat tall man ; 
and, altogether, he appeared like one who must be 
an ugly customer at the door of a stage coach, with 
a dark lantern in one hand and a revolver in the 
other. 

“ He is the worst of them all,” thought Walter ; 
and his mind reverted in a confused manner to the 
stories he had read of “Bluebeard.” “I guess I am 
given over to this fellow as punishment for trying to 
escape. They have the advantage of me now ; but 
they cannot make me help them in their villainy, do 
what they may.” 

Still, he felt a great dread of this strange man, as 
if he were a something worse than a common robber 
— a wild, hideous being, whom the gang employed 
as a kind of underground terror, to have charge of 
of refractory prisoners. 

The long-haired keeper approached and looked 
sharply into the boy’s face. He seemed to have been 
preparing some medicine. 

“There’s life enough in him,” he muttered. “He 
swallowed that last without knowing it. If I could 
only get a little of this into him ” 

Walter stirred and looked up in the strange face. 

“ Ah ! coming to,” said the man. “ Boy, take this.” 
And putting an arm under the patient’s head, he 
placed a cup to his lips, which contained a strange, 
tasteless liquid. 

“ Your mind’s coming right,” he said. “ Just now, 


40 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


when I forced some drops down your throat, you 
didn’t know it.” 

The tone was bluff and hasty, though not realb 
harsh. It did not come up to Walter’s conception ol 
“ Bluebeard’s ” voice, and yet it was not a tone to 
give him much encouragement. The man had spoken 
much as he might have done to a sick dog. 

“ They wish to keep me alive,” thought Walter, 
“ but I should think this fellow w'ould put on a mask 
like the rest, if he believes I shall ever get away.” 

“ How do you feel ? ” asked the man. 

“I feel very weak and lame,” replied Walter. 

“ Well, you will feel better soon. You must keep 
still now.” 

“ Who brought me here,” asked Walter. 

«I did.” 

“ Where did you find me ? ” 

“In the water.” 

“ What place is this ? ” 

“ It is a cave.” 

“ So I thought,” replied Walter ; and he wondered 
if this might not be the chief den of the outlaws. 

He lay musing upon his situation, and watching 
his rough companion. 

“ Yes,” he said, “ this is another of their holes, and 
all those twelve horses are stabled here somewhere. 
Perhaps I am close upon Mr. Mercer’s gold, and a 
great deal of other treasure too. It may be all for 
the best that I am retaken, for if I had got away I 
should not have discovered this place.” 

But the attempt to console himself with the last 
reflection was not very successful. It was too much 
a matter of form. 

“ Is it night ? ” he finally asked, aloud. 

“ Yes,” replied his guardian. 

“How long have I been here?” 

“ An hour or two.” 


A PAINFUL UNCEKTAINTY. 


41 


“Where are Number One and the others? ” 

“ Boy, keep still a moment, will you ? lam busy.” 

He had answered Walter’s questions as if wholly 
preoccupied ; and his last reply was petulant and 
even savage. 

“Well,” thought our hero, “I will be as independ- 
ent as you ! If you ask me a question, old fellow. 
I’ll tell you I am busy thinking.” 

He lay for a while longer watching the queer man, 
and asking himself what good such a person could 
expect from money, should he get ever so much 
of it. 

Once or twice his host approached him, as if to 
keep informed of his condition, put his hand on the 
young patient’s forehead, and felt the pulse in his 
wrist. But he seemed to do it all absently, as if 
thinking of something else. 

“ He acts more like a- lunatic than a robber,” 
thought AValter ; “but I suppose he is studying up 
some mischief or thinking of some danger. Such 
fellows must»always be uneasy in one way or another.” 

But in spite of all the boy’s efforts at defiance, he 
still felt what amounted nearly to despair. He saw 
himself buried in the heart of the mountains, where 
no friendly hand could reach him save at the will of 
his villainous persecutors ; and under such circum- 
stances it was an agony to think of home and those 
who were dear to him. 

While strong and well, he could fight his way with 
words, at least, and could be on the watch for any 
loophole of advantage or escape ; but now, disabled 
as he was, he had only to wait in a weary and dread- 
ful suspense. 

In the meantime his keeper proceeded to overhaul 
a variety of odd-looking articles, apparently of a me- 
chanical nature ; and Walter queried as to whether 
these, too, might not be the proceeds of some rob- 


42 


THE I^OUNTAIN CAVE. 


bery. If so, be wondered wbat use they could be 
put to by such a man in such a place. 

“ Oh, I know,” he said at last to himself ; “ he has 
got some infernal machine there, and is trying to per- 
fect it. That’s what he must have been thinking of 
just now when he said he was busy. It may be in- 
tended to blow up a bank safe, or a steamboat, or a 
locomotive — something of that kind in the wind ! 
The next that people will know, some explosion will 
take place in order that a robbery may be commit- 
ted.” 

He watched the man at this kind of work till the 
sinister countenance grew into his soul like a photo- 
graph. 

“I shall know him, at all events,” he thought ; and 
so now I have three of them in my mind without 
their masks — three of the head ones, too, I guess. 
Number One is certainly the leader, and that smooth 
old fellow of the stage coach must rank next ; then 
this man here neither looks nor acts as if he were 
one of the lowest. He’s shrewd enough — he’s no 
more crazy than I am.” 

The man seemed wholly absorbed in his work — 
sometimes loosening a screw or changing the posi- 
tion of a lever ; now peering under the suspicious 
contrivance, and now over it ; now lifting it from the 
table, and now replacing it ; and all the while with 
brow contracted and every indication of troublesome 
thought. 

Here, perhaps, was an invention which might be 
set to do a giant’s work ; but an evil work, indeed, it 
must be in such hands. 

After a while he suddenly started up, as if all at 
once remembering his prisoner. 

“ Wide awake yet, eh ‘? ” he said, coming to Wal- 
ter’s side. 

“Yes.” 


AN INCIDENT THAT WROUGHT A CHANGE. 43 

“ How do you feel ? ” 

“Not so bad as I did.” 

“ Do you want anything ? ” 

“No.” 

“ Not in much pain ? ” 

“ No ; only sore and weak.” 

“ Here, take this ” — and he presented some small 
liquid potion which the boy swallowed unhesita- 
tingly. It seemed to Walter that what he had at first 
taken had done him good ; and then, of course, the 
outlaws could have no motive for giving him poison, 
at least for the present. 

Shortly afterwards, he found himself very drowsy. 
Two or three times he rallied, and each time saw the 
mysterious workman at his task ; but at length the 
tired young eyes refused to open, and the lad forgot 
his unhappiness in a deep, quiet sleep. 


CHADTEE Vm. 

AN INCIDENT THAT WROUGHT A CHANGE. 

Walter felt very languid upon awaking, but his 
mind had grown clearer and stronger. His compan- 
ion of the previous evening was still alone with him, 
and he wondered that no others of the gang made 
their appearance. Perhaps this, too, was merely an 
outpost, like the other place he had seen, and the 
real hold of the robbers might be at a wide distance 
from it. 

He detected the fragrant odor of coffee and the 
smell of broiled venison, but could see nothing of 
any appliance for cookery. 

“ How now ? ” said his gruff jailor. “ You feel bet- 
ter this morning, I think.” 

“ Yes, a little,” replied Walter, surprised that the 
man should have used a single word more than nec- 
essary. 


44 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“ Sore all over, of course.” 

“ Yes, I feel as if I had been run through a flour 
mill.” 

“ Well, I’ll bring you some coffee.” 

“ I wonder that he should care how I feel,” thought 
Walter ; “ but somehow he don’t look as savage as he 
did last night. Here comes the coffee. I must drink 
that to keej) alive, if a robber did make it.” 

The beverage revived him greatly. 

“ Now,” said the man, “ get up and let me see what 
you look like. Don’t be afraid ; I won’t hurt 
you.” 

“lam not afraid,” replied Walter, “'but it hurts 
me to move.” 

“Well, out you come — here, let me help you.” 

Walter got out upon the floor, his companion at 
first supporting him. He was lame from top to toe, 
but felt stronger with each movement. 

“There,” said the man, “move about and limber 
yourself.” And turning away abruptly, he disap- 
peared for the moment. Returning, he set a num- 
ber of dishes upon a rude sort of table that stood by 
the wall, between the table and the grizzly bear. 

Walter thought the odor of the venison very 
tempting ; but his appetite failed after a few mouth- 
fuls, for he was not well enough to relish an ordinary 
meal. His companion, however, ate heartily. 

Very few words were spoken during the repast, 
the strange personage seeming all the while moody 
and preoccupied. 

“ You must keep quiet for a day or two,” he re- 
marked, as he finished breakfast. “Lie down when 
you like, and get up when you are tired of lying 
down.” 

“ But when am I to have my liberty ? ” 

“ Have your liberty ? ” 

“Yes, that is what I would be glad to know.” 


AN INCIDENT THAT WBOUGHT A CHANGE, 45 

“Oh, in a few days ; you won’t be a prisoner long, 
if things work well.” 

“I could escape from this man,” thought Walter, 
“ if I wasn’t so disabled. Perhaps by to-morrow I 
may be able to walk, at least, if I can’t run.” 

If there had been any doubt in his mind in regard 
to the connection of this singular person with the 
robber gang, it was now set wholly at rest. It did 
not occur to him that there might be a misunder- 
standing. He would have asked a question or two 
more, but the strange individual, without the least 
further notice of him, arose abruptly and went about 
some business of his own. 

Walter hobbled to the couch and lay down upon 
it, as this was his easiest position ; and then in the 
silence he watched the long-haired man at some mys- 
terious occupation, though not that of the night be- 
fore. 

After a time the stalwart robber arose and walked 
the room, precisely as if he supposed himself its only 
occupant. 

“ He must be a lunatic, sure enough, ” thought 
Walter — “a crazy robber. But then would the gang 
leave a crazy man here to manage things ? I think 
not.” 

After all, he could not help seeing that his jailor 
had nothing of an insane look. He simply acted 
queerly. 

At length, seeming to remember Walter’s presence, 
he stopped in his walk and looked at him thought- 
fully. 

“So they will come in upon me,” he said, “get 
where I will. Boy, I wish you had kept away. How 
did you come here ? ” 

“You said that you brought me,” replied Walter. 

“ Yes ; but how came you in that stream ? ” 

“What is he at now? ’’thought Walter. “Is it 


46 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


possible that be don’t know all about it? Well, I’ll 
tell bim no more than be asks.” “I went into it 
from a rock,” be answered. 

“ Fell in — I see. But bow came you in this part of 
tbe country alone ? ” 

Walter was puzzled. Wbat object could tbe man 
bave in pretending ignorance ? “ Has be not just 

spoken,” be thought, “ as if be knew me to be a pris- 
oner ? ” However, nothing could be lost by non- 
committal. 

“ I was out on a school vacation,” be said. 

‘‘Alone?” 

“ Yes.” 

“ A boy of sixteen here in these mountains I Were 
you lost ? ” 

“Yes.” 

“ Wbat is your name ? ” 

“ Walter Dayton ? ” 

“ Where is your home ? ” 

“In Sacramento.” 

“ And so you are on my hands — a prisoner here.” 

“ Prisoner again ! ” thought Walter. “ He asks all 
these questions, and yet be knows just bow it is all 
the time. But then — bold, be may belong to another 
gang ; I never thought of that.” 

Tbe man turned away as if vexed with himself for 
having manifested any interest in tbe matter, and 
again fell into a study over something of tbe me- 
chanical kind. 

“I am puzzled more than ever,” said Walter to 
himself. “ I will ask bim about tbe robbers outright, 
and see wbat he will say.” 

He would ask nothing, however, till the man should 
seem less absorbed in his work ; so he lay and 
watched him, thinking that,’ after all, he had not a 
bad face. It was that long beard and hair which 
gave him his look of fierceness. 


AN INCIDENT THAT WROUGHT A CHANGE. 47 


Presently he observed the workman pause and look 
up in a listening attitude. There was a long narrow 
rent in the rock, nearly over the man’s head, and 
just then a few bits of gravel fell through it and rat- 
tled on the table at which he sat. 

“They are coming,” thought Walter, “Number 
One and the rest of them. I can hear them on the 
cliff outside.” 

There was, indeed, a slight noise, as of some living 
object making its way down the side of the rock. 

The long-haired man rose softly, motioning Walter 
to be silent. Then, taking a double-barreled gun, he 
noiselessly disappeared outside. It was the first time 
that the lad had perceived the way of exit. Full of 
curiosity, he arose and attempted to walk to the door, 
though the movement pained him. 

In a few minutes he heard a harsh growl, and then 
the report of a gun. This was followed by a startling 
roar ; and Walter forgot his crippled condition as he 
hurried out to see what was taking place. 

The sight he encountered was a thrilling one. 
Stretched prone upon the ground lay the man of the 
cave, while over him stood a huge cinnamon bear, 
with both fore paws on his breast. 

The gun, of which one barrel only had been dis- 
charged, was lying a few feet off, and behind the en- 
raged animal. 

Walter shouted to divert the bear’s attention, and 
losing all sense of lameness and weakness, plunged 
desperately out of the cave. 

It was his object to get possession of the gun ; but 
the attempt would be more perilous than his leap 
from the cliff. It would expose him to almost cer- 
tain death, as the bear would undoubtedly leave its 
first victim to attack him. Yet a human life was at 
stake, and the case required instant action. 

As he passed close to the bear, it glared upon him 


48 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


with fury in its small black eyes, and seemed on the 
point of rushing forward. 

To pick up the gun without being instantly torn in 
pieces appeared almost impossible, but a quick mo- 
tion might accomplish it. 

Walter’s hand flew out and snatched the weapon ; 
while the bear, wheeling about, rose on its hind legs 
ready to clutch him in its embrace. 

The report of the gun and the roar of the furious 
brute were simultaneous. At first the boy felt him- 
self lost, for the bear sprang upon him with a force 
that threw him flat on the ground. Scrambling up, 
however, he saw that the creature was beyond doing 
further harm, having died almost instantly. 

As to the man, he was so badly injured that Wal- 
ter’s assistance was required to enable him to walk. 
Once within the cavern, he flung himself upon a 
couch, and then in a feeble voice directed his young 
companion what to do in the case. 

All the while he looked into the boy’s face with a 
grateful expression, and his whole manner appeared 
to be changed. 


CHAPTEE IX. 

A BETTER UNDERSTANDING. 

Walter found the cavern well stocked with cura- 
tives, and the man, lying pallid and helpless, in- 
structed him how to apply them. 

The poor boy had himself been hurt by the last 
effort of the bear, so that had there been no great 
necessity for action, he would have felt compelled to 
lie very quiet. As it was, however, he gave scarcely 
a thought to his own condition, but seizing upon this 
or that support, hobbled briskly about, feeling his 
disability become less with the forced exercise. 

“ I saw that the bear hurt you,” said the man. “ I 



A.N ENCOUNTER WITH A DANGEROUS ENEMY. See page 48. 


60 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


thought you were as good as dead when he made 
that last spring, and I could not help feeling sorry 
you had not let him kill me instead of exposing your- 
self. You are a noble boy to risk your own life for 
another, and that, too, under such terrible circum- 
stances. I don’t think you can know what fear is.” 

“I hadn’t time to be afraid,” said Walter ; ‘‘I was 
thinking of what I had to do. One thing at a time, 
you know — I meant to kill the bear, and I couldn’t 
have done it if I had thought about myself.” 

“ That’s true,” said the wounded man, “ you are a 
keen philosopher for a boy.” 

“Perhaps I follow instinct,” said Walter. 

“ Yes ; but instinct is sometimes the best of all 
guides.” 

“Can this man be a robber?” thought Walter. 
“ How he has changed ! He is not the same person ! 
And yet he must be one of the robbers, for he talked 
about my being a prisoner. But then, didn’t he 
seem to talk the other way, too, as if he knew noth- 
ing of how I came here ? I can’t understand it.” 

He thought of saying something on this point, but 
would not do so just now. The man seemed grie- 
vously injured and might die. And Walter saw the 
possibility of at last finding himself alone in that 
vast cavern in the presence of death. 

“I could hobble away now,” he reflected, “and 
take my chance among the mountains ; but wouldn’t 
I be a coward to leave this man as he is, to suffer 
alone, and perhaps to die ? No ; I’ll stay and see it* 
out with him. At all events. I’ll do so unless I dis- 
cover something further. He canH be a robber ; he 
don’t look like one in his face ; he don’t talk like one.” 

Walter suddenly found himself grown into a nurse, 
and there was a kind of satisfaction in the discovery 
that he was capable of being one. Getting about as 
well as he could, he rummaged for bandages, lini- 


A BETTER UNDERSTANDING. 51 

ment and internal restoratives, and felt the better for 
his sense of responsibility. 

His mind was occupied with the good he could do, 
and should any base treacliery be his reward, it would 
not be his fault. So he went on with a real interest 
in the case before him, as if it were the only thing to 
be considered. 

The man was at length comparatively comfortable, 
though after the first involuntary outflow of feeling, 
he said little more. 

“I wonder if he is going to be moody again,” 
mused Walter, with a feeling of disappointment. 

“ Do you feel tolerably easy now ? ” he asked. 

“Yes, tolerably.” 

“I am glad of it.” 

“ I know you are.” 

“ It is the first time I ever attempted to do up a 
wound.” 

“ I shall have to keep you till I get better.” 

“ Keep me prisoner ? ” 

“Yes.” 

“ You said I was a prisoner before.” 

“O, but that was on your own account. You 
know you are not fit to travel.” 

“ So no one else knows I am here ? ” 

“Certainly not.” 

“ You live here all alone, then ? ” 

“Yes.” 

Walter's heart felt lightened of a great load. 

“There,” he said to himself, “I am sure at last that 
he does not belong to the gang. He may be a rob- 
ber on his own hook, but I will say nothing about 
that at present. I feel now as if I could afford to 
leave off asking him questions, and just go on think- 
ing.” 

The change from the former state of suspense 
brought a feeling that was almost happiness. Now 


52 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


he would no longer have to listen for the footsteps of 
Number One and his associates. He had only to 
consider how best he might get out from the moun- 
tains when he should again be able to travel. The 
grimness of the cavern was softened, and even the 
rattlesnake upon the wall appeared less hideous than 
at first. 

The wounded man was getting drowsy, perhaps 
from the effect of something which had been admin- 
istered, and after a time he fell asleep. 

Upon his awakening, the shock to his nervous sys- 
tem appeared to have passed away, so that he was 
able to sit up. Much of his reserve was now gone, 
and he seemed to regard Walter with great interest. 
He had “taken to him,” so to speak, and began to 
question him. 

“ You say you were alone,” he said. 

“Yes, at the time of my accident.” 

“ Did you come into the mountains with com- 
pany ? ” 

“ Yes ; I came with a company of robbers ! ” 

And Walter looked into the man’s face to see what 
effect the revelation would produce. 

“ Bobbers ! how came that about ? ” 

“ They attacked a stage coach I was in, and after 
plundering it they carried me off with them in order 
to make my father ransom me.” 

“How should they have known anything about 
you?” 

“ Oh, there was an oldish man in the stage who 
asked me some questions about myself, and it was 
he who told them of me. He appeared to know my 
father.” 

“ Your father is rich, no doubt.” 

“ Yes ; and, besides, I think this man has a grudge 
against him.” 

“ Well, where did they take you ? ” 


A BETTER UNDERSTANDING. 63 

“ To a cave among tlie rocks ; but I haven’t the 
least idea where it is.” 

“ And you escaped ? ” 

“ Yes ; they tried to make me sign a letter to my 
father, begging him to ransom me. I refused to do 
it, and then they counterfeited my hand and forged 
a letter. I found afterwards that it was done by the 
same man I had seen in the stage.” 

“ Forged, you say ? ” 

“ Yes, and it was done to perfection. I heard one 
of the robbers tell another that the one who did it 
could fool the president of a bank.” 

“Forged your name! Counterfeited your hand- 
writing ! ” 

“Yes ; I suppose he must have found a scrap of 
my writing which I didn’t know I had about me.” 

“ An oldish man — how did he look ? ” 

“He had large eyes, a hooked nose, and a very 
wide head.” 

“ So he was one of the robbers ? ” 

“ Yes ; a robber in disguise ; he appeared like a 
gentleman.” 

“ Did 5’ou make your escape from them and after- 
wards get lost ? ” 

“I got out of the cave, but pretty soon I came 
upon the oldish man and another that the robbers 
called Number One. They didn’t see me at first, 
but two others came up and discovered me where I 
was hidden, and then the whole four attempted to 
catch me. I dodged them, and at last jumped off a 
high cliff into that torrent where you must have 
found me.” 

“So the old man asked you questions in the 
stage ? ” 

“ Some few ; not many ; and rather carelessly, as 
I thought. There was a girl in the stage whose 
father had just been robbed of a hundred thousand 


54 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


dollars in gold — all the property he had. He is a 
Mr. Mercer.” 

“ Mercer — a Mr. Mercer — and where is his home ? ” 

“I don’t know. His daughter did not say.” 

“So you think the old man of the stage coach was 
the one who forged the letter ? ” 

“ Oh, yes ; I heard them talking about it after- 
wards. He wasn’t very old — I should say he was 
about fifty.” 

“ Had a grudge against your father, you think ? ” 
said the man. 

“I heard him say something about getting even 
with him ; and he spoke of some one besides whom 
he called ‘ Gerald,’ as near as I could understand.” 

“ What did he say of him ? ” 

“ I have forgotten the expression he used, but it 
seemed as if ‘ Gerald ’ was some one whom he had 
wronged.” 

“ The villainous gang ! ” said the long-haired man, 
looking intensely excited. “They burrow in the 
mountains like rattlesnakes ! ” 

His face had a fierce, wild look, that was startling 
in its suggestion of insanity. 

“ And what do you think of me f ” he asked, pres- 
ently. 

“ I was doubtful when I found myself here,” an- 
swered Walter. “I thought ” 

“ You thought me a robber, like the rest.” 

“Well, I did— I ” 

“Yes, I felt that you did ; and you don’t know but 
I am one.” 

“ I’ll risk it,” said Walter. 

“ You mean that you mmt risk it.” 

“ I mean that I am not afraid you intend me any 
harm.” 

“ And you don’t feel yourself a prisoner ? ” 

“ No ; except in the way you mentioned.” 


A CONVEKSATION AND A VISITOR. 


55 

“ That is right ; we are prisoners to each other for 
the present.” 

And the strange man, weak and pale, threw him^ 
self upon the couch. 


CHAPTER X. 

A CONVERSATION AND A VISITOR. 

After a while, Walter could not resist the tempta- 
tion of going out to look at the dead bear. 

The animal lay where it had fallen, a grim looking 
object, surely, with its heavy body and stout legs and 
paws. 

“ To-morrow I will see if I can get off the skin,” 
thought our young hero; “but I am too sore and 
lame to-day. I think that fellow would weigh more 
than five hundred pounds.” 

Examining the surroundings of the cave, he saw 
that its entrance was so hidden by trees and rocks 
that it was not likely to be detected by a stranger 
even when open, while it was rendered still more 
secret by a door so ingeniously contrived as to seem 
like Nature’s own work. 

Earth and rock were intermingled about the place, 
and vines and trees took root here and there in such 
a way that no one would have suspected the exist- 
ence of a cave below them. 

Walter, while within, had observed that the air 
and sunlight entered through a number of rents, and 
he now saw how easily these narrow crevices could 
be covered when necessary with bark or other mate- 
rial. 

The spot was high above a neighboring gorge, and 
through this there coursed a rapid stream, which he 
imagined might be the very one into which he had 
leaped, though here it had so widened as to lose 
something of its force. 


66 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“If I could only get word to my father, so as to 
prevent him from making any arrangement with the 
robbers, how I would love to remain here for a time,” 
he said, “ it is all so wild and strange.” 

True, his father might require that he should be 
produced before putting the money in the robbers’ 
hands ; and thus the eighty thousand dollars might 
be saved — but at what an expense of feeling ! He 
would be supposed to be dead, and the sufferings of 
his parents would be dreadful. 

Yet his present condition rendered a long journey 
out of the question, and even if perfectly well, how 
would he be able to find his way through a moun- 
tainous wilderness, so vast and difficult ? 

His most trying disability was a sprain in one of 
his ankles, for it acted as a merciless fetter to the 
slightest movement, to say nothing of a forty-mile 
tramp over the mountains. He saw that he must 
yield to the inevitable, and he did so with his usual 
decision. 

He re-entered the cave, taking care to close the 
outlet behind him with the screen of woven twigs 
and moss which he had observed as serving for a 
door. 

The wounded man asked him to sit down by the 
side of his couch. 

“Walter,” he said, “for you say that is your name, 
did you ever see a hermit ? ” 

“No, sir, not that I am aware of.” 

Somehow it seemed easy and natural to use the 
“sir” as a handle to the “no.” 

“Well, you see one now,” was the answer. 

“And have you lived here all alone for a long 
time?” 

“ Yes, for a number of years.” 

“ And you never go to the settlements ? ” 

“No, never,” 


A CONVEKSATION AND A VISITOR. 


57 


“ But you have coffee, and flour, and sugar, and 
medicine and mechanical tools — and — gas ! I don’t 
see how you get them if you never leave the neigh- 
borhood.” 

The hermit smiled. 

“No wonder you include gas” he said, “ for you 
must have observed that I use a great deal. Nature 
provides that. I get it from the earth itself. As to 
the other articles, perhaps you will learn before long 
how I get them. 

“ And do you never get tired of staying here ? ” 

“ Yes ; but I can stay nowhere else.” 

“ I would like to live here a while, but not always,” 
said Walter. 

“ Heaven grant that you may never find it neces- 
sary ! ” 

“ I wonder what the necessity can be in his case ! ” 
thought Walter. 

“Your father,” continued the hermit, “is Mr. Wal- 
ter Dayton, of San Francisco, I presume.” 

“ Yes, sir,” replied the boy, in some surprise ; “ are 
you acquainted with him ? ” 

“ I have heard of him.” But the look and manner 
told that he might have said more. 

“Of course, you must wish to know me by some 
name,” he added. “You may call me Percy — Mr. 
Percy.” 

“In what way did you find me?” asked Walter. 

“ Oh, I found you caught in a fallen tree-top, 
where you had been swept by the torrent. Then I 
made a raft of dry cedar limbs with my hatchet, 
large enough to hold us both, and so got you here ; 
for the same stream runs close to this place. We 
floated for two or three miles, but I saw all the while 
that you were alive, though you did not realize any- 
thing.” 

“ I can never repay you for your good deed, sir.” 


58 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


‘^You have repaid me already. You have done 
what not one boy in ten thousand would have had 
the courage to do. You must have thought me a 
very gruff fellow at first, and I ask your pardon for 
having appeared so.” 

“ But you thought it necessary.” 

“No, I did not think; I feU. We should not always 
follow our feelings.” 

“Oh, I know one must get gloomy,” said Walter, 
“ when he is shut up alone ; ” and he thought with a 
shudder of his own feelings when shut in the cell of 
the robbers’ cave. 

“ The elderly man you spoke of,” said the hermit, 
“you heard no name given him?” 

“I am not sure that I did,” replied Walter. 
“While I was confined, I heard a name used that 
sounded like ‘ Old Eli,’ and I now think that it was 
this man who was speaking, and that he was apply- 
ing the name to hirnseif.” 

The hermit’s face took on a fierce, vindictive look, 
as if he made the case his own. “ The scoundrel ! ” 
he exclaimed, and then for some minutes remained 
silently thinking. 

“Walter,” he said at length, “if these villains 
could be brought to justice, there might be more 
than money recovered. Gold is of small conse- 
quence.” 

“ But Mr. Mercer would not think so.” 

“ Certainly not. Mr. Mercer has lost I— but 

was the girl you met in the stage interesting ? ” 

“Very. And she was the prettiest girl I ever saw. 
I am sure all the passengers must have been taken 
with her appearance.” 

“ She probably looks as — well, a good and pretty 
girl is a beautiful object in a boy’s eyes. Did you 
learn her first name ? ” 

“ Yes ; it was Maud.” 


A CONVERSATION AND A VISITOR. 


69 


“ That is one of the best names in the world.” 

“ I think so, too,” said AValter. 

‘‘No doubt. But those robbers — I wonder what 
hole they are hiding in? No one knows how many 
unexplored caverns there are among the mountains.” 

“ Does this cave reach in much farther than I can 
see? ” asked Walter. 

“ Yes, it reaches, perhaps, for miles. But I have 
lived here until very lately without any suspicion of 
the fact. A short time since I pried away a fiat stone 
and saw an opening behind it. Then I removed a 
quantity of earth, and discovered that I had been 
living in the mere vestibule of a cavern instead of the 
cavern itself.” w 

“ And did you explore it ? ” 

“I did so as far as possible with the means at 
hand, but I came to a large subterranean lake and 
was obliged to stop.” 

“ You needed a boat,” said Walter, greatly inter- 
ested. 

“ Yes ; I have since made a canoe of birch bark, 
but have not yet launched it. I intend to do so soon, 
however.” 

“ And you think it reaches for miles. Oh, how I 
should delight to navigate such a lake ! Is the roof 
quite high ? ” 

“Yes, and glittering with crystals. It is one of 
the most remarkable caves in the world.” 

“Some time,” said Walter, “I will come here, if 
you have no objection, and take a trip in your 
canoe.” 

“ I shall be glad to have you. I wish you could 
remain and do so now, but of course your parents 
must not be left in suspense longer than necessary.” 

“ No, sir,” said Walter ; “ I am very anxious about 
them.” 

“ It is as much as either of us can do to get about 


60 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


house at present,” said the hermit, “ but wait a few 
days and we will see what is to be done. You will 
come out right, I am sure.” 

“ I shall come out right if I can be the means of 
breaking up this gang of robbers and recovering 
some of their plunder.” 

“ Any party of men who will hunt them down shall 
have all the assistance I can give,” said Mr. Percy. 
“ I had no idea that — well, your story has set me to 
thinking.” 

Walter could hardly credit his senses as he looked 
upon the long haired man during this discourse, and 
thought of his manner a few hours previous. The 
society and sympathy of a mer»boy had been to him 
what the rain is to the parched ground. 

“We will hope for the best,” added the hermit, 
“ but it will be a difficult undertaking. Your alfair, 
however, will have done good — it will take something 
from the mystery. You will be able to furnish a bet- 
ter clue than any one else. I should be glad to have 
you report to that pretty girl of the stage coach, in 
just the mauner you would like! ” 

“ Thank you, sir,” said Walter. 

That evening, though in pain and limping awk- 
wardly, he insisted upon cooking the simple supper, 
and was tolerably successful. It consisted of veni- 
son, “ short-cakes,” and tea. 

Both felt invigorated by the repast, for their disa- 
bilities were chiefly in their limbs. 

At night they slept on separate couches made of 
dry moss, over which bear skins were spread, making 
the beds all that could be desired. 

“ Did you hear the snarling outside of the cave 
last night ? ” asked the hermit, as they awoke in the 
morning. 

“ No, sir, I slept very sound ; what was it ? ” 

“ Only a pack of wolves. They were at work on 


A CONVEBSATION AND A VISITOR. 6l 

that dead bear. Probably they have saved us the 
trouble of disposing of the carcass.'" 

“ I was thinking I would like to try my hand at 
skinning it,” said Walter. 

“ Well, you will find nothing but the larger bones, 
you may be sure. The skin is gone with the rest, 
and I would wager something that there is not so 
much as a toe nail left on the ground.” 

Both hobbled out to the scene of the wolfish revel, 
and, sure enough, only a few bones remained as rel- 
ics of poor Bruin. They wei;e picked so clean and 
had been so polished by the hungry teeth, that they 
fairly glistened. No two of them remained together, 
but all were widely distributed. 

** Wolves are great scavengers,” said the hermit. 

“Yes,” replied Walter, “I was wondering what we 
were to do with the bear’s body.” 

“ Well, you see we have nothing to dispose of but 
the bones. This is the way they clean up my door- 
yard.” 

They re-entered the cave and commenced prepara- 
tions for breakfast. 

Presently, to Walter’s surprise, he saw the curious 
door very gently removed, and a human figure make 
its appearance at the entrance. His first thought 
was of the robbers. Might they not have caught 
sight of him without, and thus discovered his re- 
treat ? 

Carefully closing the portal, the figure advanced 
with all the silence of a spirit. It was that of an 
athletic young man, with a remarkably grave face. 
Walter started and etood on the defensive. 

“ Good morning, sir,” he said, by way of experi- 
ment. 

There was no answer ; but the man stepped for- 
ward in his noiseless moccasins, looking about him 
inc^uiringly, as if for the master of the place, the 


62 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


hermit happening just at that moment to be out of 
sight. 

“Take a seat, sir,” said Walter. 

But the figure simply held up one finger, with the 
same inquiring look. 

“ O, I see — he wants Mr. Percy,” said Walter to 
himself, and he pointed to a nook of the cave. But 
just then the hermit hobbled into view, clapping 
both hands upon his breast as a sign of welcome. * 


CHAPTEK XI. 

A PANTOMIME. 

Between the master of the cavern and the silent 
stranger, there took place a sign-dialogue so rapid 
as to remind Walter of the play of “heat lightning.” 
It seemed wonderful that either could understand 
the other, yet there seemed not be the least difficulty 
in this respect. 

Our hero was somewhat acquainted with the sign 
language, and in this pantomime he fancied that he 
could read, on the hermit’s part, a complete history 
of the events of the past few days. There were the 
stage-coach and the robbers ; there were the impris- 
onment and the escape ; there were the leap from the 
cliff, the rescue from the stream, and the adventure 
with the bear. 

A quick motion or two told the tale of the wounds 
received and the present inability to travel, and a 
rapid drawing of the right forefinger across the palm 
of the left hand, showed the desire to communicate 
with friends by letter. 

The hermit at length turned to Walter, who had 
all the while stood an intensely interested spectator. 

“ You were wondering,” he said, “ how I obtained 
my flour, sugar, medicine and other articles. I 
thought it unnecessary to explain at the time — but 


A PANTOMIME. 


63 


you see the ‘ how ’ before you. This deaf and dumb 
youth is the only person besides yourself who has the 
least knowledge of my whereabouts or even of my 
existence. He brings me whatever I desire. Some- 
times he employs a horse, but to-day he has come on 
foot, as he had only a few light articles to bring.” 

“ And has he never told any one of you ? ” 

“ Never, I am sure.” 

“ He must be very faithful.” 

“ He IS faithful ; he would give his life for mine, 
poor fellow ! ” 

Walter regarded the mute figure with increased in- 
terest. 

“Now,” continued the hermit, “write what you 
will. He will be your mail carrier. You will have 
no difficulty in making known your safety, and can 
easily put your father upon his guard against any 
trick of the robbers. Let me introduce you to 
Ralph.” ^ 

“ So Ralph is a deaf and dumb man,” said Walter, 
after shaking hands with that individual. 

“Yes,” replied the hermit, “and I like him all the 
better for it, though, of course, he could reveal my 
secret if he would, as surely as if he could speak.” 

“ You feel as if he would not let it out by accident, 
I suppose, seeing that he cannot talk.” 

“ Yes, there is something in that. I see that you 
wdll have to tell your folks of me — that is unavoid- 
able.” 

“ But I can ask them not to inform others.” 

“I should choose that you would do so, by all 
means.” 

“ I will remember. But if we are to bring the rob- 
bers to Justice ” 

“ I know what you mean— it may be difficult to as- 
sist justice and remain unknown . at the same 
timet” 


64 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“Perhaps it might be managed, though,” said 
Walter. 

“Perhaps — but we will see.” 

Breakfast being ready, the three sat down to it, the 
silent messenger eating with all the relish given by a 
long mountain tramp. He had the night before, as 
he signified, slept under the open sky, with the earth 
for a pillow — for so Walter understood the quick up- 
ward and downward pointing, accompanied with an 
inclination of the head. 

Our hero now rapidly scribbled a letter to his 
father, detailing his adventures and the plot of the 
robbers. 

“ I am safe now,” he wrote, “ and as you have noth- 
ing to fear on my account, you may perhaps succeed 
in entrapping them or at least make some discovery 
that shall help to bring them to justice. Most of all,” 
he added, “ I wish to get hold of that old villain who 
was so good to me in the stage. Wouldn’t it be glo- 
rious if we could recover Mr. Mercer’s gold? Only 
to think of it, that they should have taken everything 
he had, and left him a poor man. I’m glad now that 
they took me, for I should know some of them by 
sight — two of them, at least — and perhaps this might 
help a little.” 

His letter was a long one, for he had much to say ; 
and after remarking that he would have to remain 
with the hermit until better able to travel, he con- 
cluded by describing Kalph, who would deposit the 
missive in the nearest post-office, as the only person 
capable of being a guide to the place in case of neces- 
sity. 

This duty performed, he felt much relieved. Mr. 
Percy and himself had now only to get well at their 
leisure, and as the former was already considerably 
better, while his own ankle was less troublesome than 
the day before, he believed that there was no longer 


A PANTOMIME. 65 

any grave cause for anxiety, and his mind was now 
comparatively easy. 

After resting a few hours, Kalph started on his re- 
turn, making a grave gesture of good by at the 
door. 

“ What a walker he must be,” said Walter. 

“ Yes, he could easily out-travel a horse on a long 
journey,” replied the hermit. 

“He has walked forty miles,” remarked Walter, 
“ and now he is to walk back.” 

“ But he takes it leisurely,” said Mr. Percy. “ He 
will make a camp for himself to-night, and reach the 
post-office to-morrow forenoon.” 

“ It seems to me I should like to travel just in that 
way,” said Walter. 

“ Yes, there is a charm in such a hardy life,” said 
Mr. Percy. 

“Last winter I read ‘Walden,’ and I can’t help 
thinking how Mr. Thoreau would have enjoyed being 
here.'' 

“ Ah, you have read Henry D. Thoreau, then ? ” 

“Yes, sir.” 

“ Then you have read the works of a true thinker. 
No doubt you and I shall agree very well to- 
gether.” 

“Mr. Thoreau seems to make company of his 
beans." 

“ Yes ; he believes in making the most of simple 
things.” 

“Yet he would have loved these mountains.” 

“ Oh, yes ; yet he made mountains for himself, and 
took them home with him.” 

“ I suppose he had never suffered any great wrong,” 
said Walter, suggestively. 

“ No ; he could have his hermitage very near man- 
kind ; he was a happy man.” And the hermit’s face 
darkened as he relapsed into thought. 

3 


66 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


CHAPTER Xn. 

A SUGGESTIVE SPECTACLE. 

Walter knew very well that his father would come 
in search of him, as the hermit had given Ralph per- 
mission to guide Mr. Dayton to the spot in case the 
request should be made. 

“ I am sorry,” he thought, “ that I shall not be able 
to remain here long enough to explore the cave, but 
then if the robbers are to be hunted up, the sooner it 
is done the better. I will never rest while there is a 
chance of finding them, if I have to rouse up all the 
police in California.” 

His ankle continued to improve, and Mr. Percy’s 
injuries also grew much better, so that in a day or 
two both were able to move with no great discom- 
fort. The cave contained a variety of books, which 
our hero found very entertaining, and the hermit, 
though at intervals sad and moody, was upon the 
whole an interesting companion, whose conversation 
helped to pass the time pleasantly. 

His long hair still gave him an odd, wild look, but 
his face, though stern, was far from being a disagree- 
able one. 

At times he would suddenly return to the “infer- 
nal machine ” upon which Walter had at first seen 
him at work, and perplex himself with its complica- 
tions. But now it seemed no longer demoniac in the 
boy’s eyes. 

“ It is of no consequence,” said his eccentric friend, 
“ but it gives employment to thought ; I love to see 
what I can do.” 

“ It seems very ingenious,” said Walter, “ but I am 
not mechanic enough to have the least idea of its 


A SUGGESTIVE SPECTACLE. 67 

“ It will never have any use. It is the work of a 
man in the bowels of the earth.” 

A number of other queer inventions were bestowed 
here and there in the recesses of the rQom, showing 
that the hermit-workman had busied himself much 
with the possibilities of invention. 

“He may be just the least bit insane on this 
point,” thought Walter. “I have heard of such peo- 
ple.” 

But it was the subterranean lake — the underground 
world, with its mysteries — that most occupied his 
thoughts, and the sight of the canoe which Mr. Percy 
had prepared, contributed still further to inflame his 
imagination and increase the impatience he felt to 
recover his usual strength of limb. 

“ Now,” said the hermit, one bright morning, “ we 
will have some fish. It is about time, I think, to 
change our fare.” 

“ And do you catch fish in the stream ? ” asked 
Walter. 

“ O yes ; a plenty of them — pike and perch and 
pickerel. I have bait always at hand — any amount 
of worms to be had for the turning of a flat stone.” 

The proposition delighted Walter exceedingly. 
The preparations were soon made, and the hermit led 
the way to a little nook beside the torrent, where the 
waters gathered in an eddy as they swept around a 
projecting rock which broke the force of the cur- 
rent. 

Above were the boughs of a gigantic oak, from 
which depended huge curtains of moss that almost 
touched the rock beyond, though they did not inter- 
fere with the free use of the rod in the calm little 
pool. 

“Here,” said Mr. Percy, “the fish come to rest. 
This place is very deep, and as still as a well.” 

Walter dropped his hook a little below the surface. 


68 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


and almost instantly detected a gleaming shape dart- 
ing toward it. 

There was no nibbling, no toying with the bait. 
The sensation communicated through the line was as 
of a stroke delivered — and then what a pull ! 

The line sped out, swerving to right and left, and 
cutting the water like a knife. What a solid, sub- 
stantial strength was taking it over the reel! 

“ It is a monster,” said Mr. Percy ; “ be careful now, 
and do nothing hastily.” 

Walter felt all the excitement of a whalesman fast 
to a hundred-barrel “ square-head.” 

The fish was “ game ” to perfection. A dozen times 
it went to the bottom, and as often threw itself sheer 
out of the water. Sometimes it came to the angler’s 
very feet, but only to shoot away till it passed almost 
beyond the rock. 

At length, however, it yielded, lying still at the 
surface of the water, and was lifted in upon the bank. 

“What is it?” asked Walter. 

“A pickerel,” said Mr. Percy, “but a much larger 
one than I ever saw before — areal giant of the stream.” 

He drew from his pocket an apparatus of his own 
construction, hooked it under the gills of the fish, and 
lifted the scaly prize from the ground. 

“ Let’s see,” he said ; “ seven — eight — nine — ten — 
eleven — twelve — yes — twelve pounds and two ounces 1” 

It was a fish worthy of a Sierra Nevada stream, 
where, for aught Walter knew, the bed of the torrent 
might be paved with gold. 

“ Now I will try my luck against yours,” said Mr. 
Percy, as he dipped his line. 

The result was a trout weighing two pounds. 

It was scarcely landed when Walter lifted another 
pickerel, and flung it gracefully to the bank. It 
weighed four pounds and a half. 

“I shall be dreadfully beaten,” said Mr. Percy, 


A SUGGESTIVE SPECTACLE. 


69 


laughing. “ The spirit of old Izaak Walton seems to 
be guiding your rod. However, I am very glad of 
your success. Now for another trial.” 

As they were about to throw off their lines, their 
attention was arrested by a tramping sound on the 
opposite bank, and stooping so as to look under the 
curtain of moss, they saw a cavalcade of eight horse- 
men approaching the stream. 

The bank was here so low that the water was nearly 
on a level with it, so that the horses without difficulty 
waded in and drank. They icere all of a hay color. 

“ The robbers ! ” whispered W^'alter, “ the very men 
and horses ! ” 

“ Are you sure ? ” asked the hermit. 

“Yes,” said Walter, “quite sure. Number One is 
among them, and so is the old villain of the stage 
coach. I should know them anywhere.” 

“ Old — where ? which ? Point him out to me.” 

“He is the furthest out on their right, as they 
stand,” answered the boy under his breath, “ and the 
next to him is Number One.” 

“I see,” said the hermit ; “yes, yes ; I see. Ah, if 
I had but the pow’er to follow them straight from this 
spot — to follow them right up ! ” 

“They shall be followed up,” Walter whispered, “if 
not from here.” 

The horsemen talked with each other, and pointed 
up and down the stream. They evidently wished to 
cross it, but did not like the strong current. On the 
calm morning air every word they spoke could be dis- 
tinctly heard by the two secret listeners. 

“It will shorten our way a great deal,” said Num- 
ber One, “to cross here.” 

“ Yes,” said the elderly man, “and it’s the best place 
for miles. There is a good place to land, near that 
old mossy tree, and then we can follow the gorge 
yonder and go straight on.” 


70 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“ The same voice that pleaded with the robbers not 
to take ‘ the poor boy ’ away — not to ‘ do such a cruel 
wrong/ ” whispered Walter to his companion. 

“ They will be very near us/’ said the hermit, but 
we are perfectly secure. They will not see us. But 
to think of hiding from such wretches ! To be help- 
less — and those villains at large ! ” 

His manner showed strong excitement. 

“Be careful, father,” called Number One, appar- 
ently speaking to the elderly man, “ there’s power in 
this current.” 

“ ‘ Father ’ ! ” repeated Walter in astonishment, “ he 
calls him ‘ father ! ’ ” 

“Yes,” replied the hermit, without the least ap- 
pearance of surprise. 

“Never fear for me,” answered the elderly man. 
“ Old Eli can ride with the best of you, if he isn't 
mountain bred.” 

“ That’s the name I heard ! ” whispered Walter ; 
“I was right.” 

“O, yes,” said the hermit, “no doubt of it. They 
are a fine pair — father and son ! ” 

“ Have you ever seen them before ? Do you know 
them ? ” questioned the boy eagerly. 

“Yes, Walter; but no matter now. Ask nothing. 
From this moment we go hand in hand. Poor Mer- 
cer! I had no idea of the real condition of things.” 

“Our time will come,” said Walter, fiercely, “just 
as sure as we live 1 I am so glad you intend to join 
me in the work 1 ” 

The men walked their horses into the stream in a 
line abreast of each other, and then the snorting ani- 
mals, getting beyond their depth, swam desperately 
for the bank ahead of them. 

The line was soon confused by the rush of the tor- 
rent. The old man lost his hat, and came near losing 
himself, but recovered his balance and followed his 



\v ALTl'.li AND THE IIEHIMIT MAKE AN ALAEMING DISCOVERY. See pf.ge 60. 





72 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


associates. The horses jostled against each other, 
and whinnied in their impatience to get ashore. 

“ Oh, that old bald pate ! ” said the hermit. “ It 
has haunted me for ” — but he paused and watched 
the dripping cavalcade scramble up the bank. 

“It was above here that we lost the boy,” said 
Number One. “ I don’t wonder that he couldn’t get 
out ; the current is swifter up there.” 

The horses’ feet clattered upon the stony earth, 
and in a few minutes the robbers were out of sight 
in the deep gorge. 


CHAPTER XIIL 

SUSPENSE. 

The sport of the morning was forgotten in the 
more exciting spectacle just witnessed, and the 
anglers presently returned to the cave, there to talk 
over the matter most at heart, or to employ them- 
selves in ways which to Walter at least had the 
charm of novelty. 

The tail of the big pickerel trailed upon the ground 
as the boy carried it u]3 the hill ; and he could not 
help recalling a score of his acquaintances who would 
go into ecstasies over his prize could they see him 
thus tugging it along. 

But how small a portion of it could be turned to 
account with only two at the table. Nor was there 
any one to show it to but the single friend who 
already knew all about it. 

“ Discount what others feel, what others think, 

All pleasures sicken and all glories sink.” 

He dressed it handsomely, however, taking a boy’s 
pride in displaying his proficiency at the work. 

“ You are not at all awkward ; I see that you know 
what a fish is,” said Mr. Percy. 

“I have done such things before,” replied Walter, 


SUSPENSE. 73 

“ when I have been on picnics about San Francisco 
Bay.” 

How nice and tempting it looked! Yet enough 
was reserved for dinner, the rest going to the wolves, 
who would be sure to leave nothing to taint the air, 

“ It is strange,” said Mr. Percy, “ that after I have 
lived here for years, knowing nothing of the exist- 
ence of this gang of robbers, they should present 
themselves just now at the very moment of your tell- 
ing me about them.” 

“It is the same with everything, I think,” said 
Walter. “If a person mis-spells a word, he finds 
himself mis-spelling a dozen other words right away ; 
and if he hears an odd name, that he never knew of 
before, he’ll find it everywhere after that.” 

“You are a pretty good observer,” remarked the 
hermit ; “ I have noticed the same thing, though I 
don’t know why it should be so.” 

“ There’s no way of knowing whether the fellows 
were just going out from their hiding place or get- 
ting back to it,” said Walter, “ but I guess they were 
getting back. You say the rock I leaped from is on 
this side of the stream, so the place where I was con- 
fined must be on this side too, though I don’t know 
where. Their main den may be close by it or a long 
distance from it.” 

“I think they take good care to conceal their 
trail,” said Mr. Percy. 

“ Yes, sir, and probably the men wouldn’t be found 
near their horses.” 

“Are you quite sure the place you were in is not 
their main resort ? ” 

“ Not entirely sure, but I think it was not. Only a 
few of them halted there that night when we arrived, 
and besides I heard something said of another 
place.” 

“ They are a precious lot, surely 1 ” 


74 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“ Yes ; but I feel almost sure of them now. Some- 
thing tells me that they are getting more and more 
in our power. When they spoke this morning of my 
being drowned, how little they thought I was lis- 
tening ! ” 

“ That old man ! ” exclaimed Mr. Percy, with a look 
and manner which recalled Walter’s first impression 
of the hermit, “ that wretched old man ! I can 
hardly believe my eyes ! ” 

And throwing back his long hair, he walked the 
cavern as if deeply troubled. 

“ He must have done you some great wrong,” said 
Walter. 

“ Ask me no questions — sometime you may know ! 
I do not feel like telling the story now. But some- 
how what I have just seen has set me thinking of 
possibilities.” 

“ I think it was all for the best that they took me 
prisoner,” remarked Walter, “for now they will cer- 
tainly be hunted down, and I hope your own account 
will be squared with the rest. I wonder what sur- 
name this Old Eli goes by, and who he is, any 
way.” 

“I suppose you hesitate to ask me, because you 
perceive that I have so many secrets. This old fel- 
low’s name is Eli Stark ; and the man you call Num- 
ber One is his son William. I had no idea they were 
highwaymen till I gathered it from your story, 
though I knew they were villains.” 

“He knows Mr. Mercer,” mused Walter, “and I 
think he knows my father ; but if he wished to tell 
me more, he would, do so. It troubles him to be 
questioned, and I wouldn’t have him moody again 
for the world ! ” 

The dinner was not a very enjoyable one, for the 
hermit’s thoughts had grown more troubled, so that 
even the delicious pickerel was but little tempting to 


SUSPENSE. 


75 


him, although Walter, it must be said, did it full jus- 
tice. 

His fitful companion grew less silent and more 
hopeful the next day ; yet the boy could not help 
feeling the monotony of this kind of life, and as 
other days passed with no tidings from the outside 
world, he became depressed by the inactivity of his 
position and the suspense of deferred expectation. 

To explore the cave would require sound limbs ; 
and his sprain was not yet well, while Mr. Percy was 
far from being in a strong condition. 

Had any accident happened to Ralph, so that he 
had never delivered the letter ? Much as he had 
wished for time to navigate the underground lake, 
he now wished still more for the arrival of his father, 
in order that some plan might be arranged looking 
to the capture of the robbers. The sooner they were 
brought to justice, the better would be Mr. Mercer’s 
chance of recovering some portion of his lost prop- 
erty. 

It was just possible that Mr. Dayton might have 
been so put at ease by the intelligence of his son’s 
safety, that he would think it unnecessary to come 
in quest of him, but this was far from probable. He 
would be anxious to solve all uncertainties immedi- 
ately, and to place the boy beyond even the most re- 
mote chance of recapture. 

As to Mr. Mercer, although Walter had never 
heard of his existence until within a few days, he 
now felt as if half acquainted with him. He recalled 
every look and tone of his young companion of the 
stage, and wondered if she had not since that memo- 
rable night felt a strong curiosity to learn his fate. 

It was plain that the hermit knew something of 
the Mercer family — his manner had shown it — and 
Walter felt half angry with him for not going straight 
on and telling what that something was. 


76 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“ If anything was troubling my mind,” he said, “ I 
would let it out to some friend, and then I should 
feel better. But I think Mr. Percy must always have 
been singular, even before he became a hermit.” 

It seemed as if Nature had made what provisions 
she well could for him. She had provided him with 
a house, and so made him her tenant. She brought 
fish and venison to his door, and loaded the moun- 
tain side with berries in their season. 

But most remarkable of all was the gas supply of 
which he had spoken. Walter accompanied him to 
the spot where it was obtained, and found that the 
natural gas came from a small fissure in a rock. The 
hermit secured it by means of an ingenious contriv- 
ance of his own, and it was so pure as to be at once 
fit for use. 

“I should think,” said the boy, ‘Hhat the spring 
close by the cave would be tainted with it.” 

“But you find that it is not so.” 

“I see — I know your spring water is just as good 
as can be.” 

It was an unique experience to see gas thus drawn 
from a rock, there in the lonely wild, and the very 
simplicity of the process made the thing all the more 
impressive. 


CHAPTER XrV. 

TWO MILES UNDERGROUND. 

At length, Walter’s troublesome ankle having be- 
come comparatively strong, he begged his compan- 
ion to show him something of the mysteries of the 
great cave ; and taking a lantern with them, the two 
proceeded to explore that portion of it lying between 
its mouth and the lake. 

The way was very difficult at first, from the ine- 
qualities of the fioor ; and there was, besides, some 


TWO MILES UNDERGBOUNB. 


77 


danger of getting lost, as there were vast chambers 
and long and ghostly alleys of which even Mr. Percy 
himself had discovered but little. 

A million bright stalactites gleamed overhead and 
about the supporting walls, and seemed to assist the 
lanterns with the endless reflections they cast. 

“If it is so wonderful here,” said Walter, “what 
will it be when we launch out upon the lake? I am 
not a bit sorry now for my delay. If I had gone 
home at once I should have missed a great sight.” 

“ Probably we see but a small portion of it,” said 
Mr. Percy. “ No one knows what may lie beyond 
the water, or how far some of the passages on each 
hand may reach.” 

“ How near may we be to the lake now ? ” asked 
Walter at length. 

“ It must be close by,” said the hermit, “ but some- 
how I am not as strong as I supposed — perhaps the 
air affects me. I am afraid we will have to return 
without taking a trip in the canoe.” 

“ O, sir, if you feel ill,” said Walter, “ let us go back 
at once. I can wait — I can come again some time.” 

“No,” said Mr. Percy, “we will keep on now till 
we reach the water ; I wish you to see it, and my 
canoe also. After this venture, you will know almost 
as much of the place as I do ; but of course we shall 
not give up the idea of a more thorough exploration.” 

So they passed onward slowly and carefully, the 
lantern light making a broad path through the dark- 
ness. 

At some points the roof was little higher than a 
a man’s head ; at others it was so lofty as to be com- 
pletely lost in the gloom that hung above the lan- 
tern rays. 

There was, withal, a gradual descent of the cave’s 
floor, as this tunnel of Nature’s own making went 
diving under the mountain. 


78 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


Walter felt awe-struck under the dome of this vast 
cathedral, so immeasurably older than any of the 
works of man. He could not help feeling as if living 
beings must abide there, though, like the ghouls of 
the poet, they might be “neither man nor woman, 
neither brute nor human.” 

This feeling was intensified by the glow of those 
beautiful crystals, which from the moment of en- 
trance had continued to amaze him. He knew that 
they had been formed there during the awful ages 
of silence which that wonderful place had known ; 
and he seemed to have been suddenly transported to 
the antediluvian world. 

At length the lanterns revealed the sparkle of 
water. 

“This,” said Mr. Percy, “is as far as I have ever 
been. All beyond is mystery. Here is a little sea, 
and we stand on its shore as the old Spaniards did 
on that of the Pacific — only that they had sunlight, 
while we have darkness.” 

The water, which had never known breeze or rip- 
ple, appeared inky black ; yet this was only on 
account of its surroundings, for in broad light of 
day it would have lain clear as the purest fountain. 

The birch canoe was found where the hermit had 
left it when he had come here all alone, with no hope 
of that human sympathy which now accompanied 
and cheered him. 

The little craft was sixteen feet in length by two 
and a half in width, and was so light that its builder 
had found, as he remarked, very little difficulty in 
getting it there, so far as the weight was concerned. 

He had supplied it with lamps for burning gas, of 
which a good supply was to be carried, though oil 
lanterns would be taken along besides. Pushed off 
into the water, it swam like a cork. Walter got into 
it. 


TWO MILES UNDEKGBOUND. 


79 


“ Where is the paddle ? ” he asked. 

Mr. Percy looked blank. 

“ There ! ” he exclaimed, “ I had entirely forgotten 
that I took the paddle with me as a staff, upon leav- 
ing the canoe here. I am sorry, for I meant that you 
should at least have the pleasure of giving the new 
vessel a trial, if only for a few yards from the 
shore.” 

“It is nothing,” said Walter, “we can come again, 
and then perhaps you will feel better, too.” 

“Yes,” said his companion, “we will come pre- 
pared for a voyage of discovery ; still I wish you 
could have had the satisfaction of paddling about a 
little.” 

“We are now two miles from our starting point, 
you think ? ” said Walter. 

“Yes ; two miles under the green old earth.” 

Walter thought what a strange, solemn thing it 
was. 

“The trees, the rocks and the mountains are all 
above us,” he said, “just as the clouds are all below 
people who go up in balloons ! ” 

“Yes,” replied Mr. Percy, “and I don’t know but 
there may be as much sublimity in great depths as 
in great heights.” 

“ I can’t help thinking of the lake of the Dismal 
Swamp,” said Walter. “ I guess the canoe the story 
tells of must have looked like this one. 

‘She’s gone to the lake of the Dismal Swamp, 

Where all night long by the firefly lamp 
She paddles her white canoe.’ 

The ghost would have found better lamps in this 
cave — only it would have needed a lantern to bring 
them out.” 

“Yes, they shine by reflection, like the moon,” re- 
marked the hermit, and they are almost as old, I 
suppose.” 


80 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVl^. 


“ I wonder if we shall find any fossil bones,” said 
Walter. 

“Not just now, probably, yet it is possible that the 
cave may contain something of the kind.” 

“No mammoth bones, I am sure,” replied the 
young enthusiast, “for a mammoth could never have 
squeezed himself through the entrance.” 

“ As likely mammoths’ remains as others,” said Mr. 
Percy. “ It is impossible to know what changes na- 
ture may have wrought, or how many entrances the 
cavern may have had in the lapse of ages.” 

Walter sat in the canoe, while his companion held 
it by a small line, allowing it to swing off as far as 
possible. 

Presently, while putting his hand down in the 
inky water, he felt it come in contact with some 
living object. He withdrew it very suddenly, with a 
thrill of surprise if not alarm. 

“I touched some moving thing,” he exclaimed — 
“ something alive ! ” 

The lantern light fell brightly upon the water, and 
the two explorers peered very carefully into the 
gloomy lake, but could detect nothing which had the 
appearance of life. 

“ You may have been deceived,” said Mr. Percy. 

“ No,” replied Walter ; “ when it touched my hand 
it darted off as if frightened.” 

Just then, fixing his eyes upon a particular spot, 
he gave a little start. “ There it is ! ” he whispered, 
“that or some other. Perhaps I can catch it.” 

He put his hand down softly, made a quick grasp, 
and landed the creature in the canoe. 

It was a fish, about eight inches long, scaleless and 
eyeless, and shaped much like a common perch. 

“ The Mammoth Cave of Kentucky is inhabited by 
eyeless fish,” observed Mr. Percy, “ but I know noth- 
ing as to their size and shape.” 


TWO MILES UNDERGROUND. 81 

Eels appear in wells, I have heard,” said Walter, 
“ and why not fish in caves ? ” 

“ True,” said Mr. Percy, “ and they come from no- 
where. They simply appear — ^just because nature has 
got ready for them.” 

They now hauled the canoe upon the dry fioor of 
the cavern, and fastened it with the line as a provi- 
sion against any rise of the waters. Then turning, 
they retraced their steps towards the daylight. 

Mr. Percy was considerably exhausted, and Walter 
feared that another long delay might take place be- 
fore the exploration could be made. He felt, too, 
that he ought to make his way toward the nearest 
settlement without more loss of time ; but a wilder- 
ness of forty miles in width stretched between him- 
self and civilization, and in this, without a guide, he 
must almost certainly become lost. His hermit friend, 
before accompanying him, must recover some of his 
ordinary strength. 

However, the case did not seem really urgent, and, 
besides, Ralph might at any time make his appear- 
ance with Mr. Dayton. 

“ I should not be afraid to attempt it,” he said. 

“But you shall not,” replied the hermit. “I should 
never forgive myself should I let you go off alone.” 

“ I have seen something of the mountains,” con- 
tinued Walter, “ and I rather like wandering about 
among them.” 

“ Yes, you have seen something of them, and you 
remember how easily you got lost the moment you 
escaped from the robbers.” 

“It was fortunate, though,” said Walter. “I shall 
never regret that part of my experience.” 

And he felt that he had begun to entertain a real 
affection for the man with whom he was, and would 
be extremely sorry should he have to think of him 
as once more living all alone in his gloomy cell. . 


82 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


CHAPTEK XV. 

WALTER ON THE. WATCH. 

The hermit at length felt himself in a condition to 
proceed with the underground enterprise. 

Walter, who had in the meantime made another 
paddle, in order that each of them might be supplied 
with one, now interested himself in the subject of 
provisions. 

He seemed half to hope that they would get lost 
and be gone long enough to require a large quan- 
tity. 

“ Certainly,” said Mr. Percy, “ we must carry some- 
thing to eat, for we are going into an unexplored 
sea, and cannot tell what may befall us.” 

“We can take a good lot of bread,” said Walter, 
“and carry along some dried venison besides. As 
to water, that is already there.” 

“ Yes,” said his companion, “ the water is excellent, 
so we shall not suffer from thirst. I hope we shall 
not have occasion for a large quantity of provisions, 
but it is well to be on the safe side.” 

“ After all,” said Walter, in a deprecating tone, 
“ we may find that the lake does not reach far, and is 
only a little pool ; but I should not think there 
would be fish in it in that case.” 

“ Possibly it may not be as large as we imagine,” 
said the hermit, “ but at all events we shall have the 
the satisfaction of seeing what lies beyond it.” 

“At the worst,” remarked Walter, “if we were to 
get shipwrecked, we could eat fish.” 

“But I think you would find that kind of diet 
hardly to your taste after a time ; besides, those fish 
may be poisonous ; we cannot tell.” 

Walter enjoyed the little details of cavern hause- 


WALTER ON THE WATCH. 


83 


keeping, but he varied the indoor life with a good 
amount of outdoor exercise. Both the mountain 
above and the gorge below had their fascination for 
him, and sometimes he wandered to a considerable 
distance. 

“Be careful that you do not get ‘turned around,”’ 
said Mr. Percy, “ when you go out in the manner you 
do. There are all sorts of queer corners here, and 
you must remember that my door is not num- 
bered.” 

“ Oh, I never forget that,” said Walter, “ nor that 
the streets are not named, though some of them are 
more grand than the finest ones in San Francisco. 
What would they say there to a front a thousand 
feet high ? Some of these rocks are higher than that, 
and yet nobody comes here to see them.” 

The expedition for the next day having been duly 
discussed, he went clambering over the giant cliffs, 
armed with the hermit’s gun, and looking keenly 
about for the large game which was often met with 
about the mountain. 

Catching sight of a grizzly bear, he cautiously fol- 
lowed the animal, his native courage mastering the 
sense of peril. Bruin, however, was traveling upon 
some business of his own, and went swinging his 
great paws along just fast enough to keep out of his 
pursuer’s way. 

At length, finding it useless to follow him further, 
the boy halted and sat down on a rock to rest. 

Presently he was surprised at the sound of human 
voices at some distance, and parting the boughs of a 
cedar that grew beside the rock, he discovered two 
men, who had apparently come out from a line of 
timber, and were now approaching his position along 
a gulch which led past it. 

He at first supposed them to be ordinary hunters, 
but as they came up, a close view of their faces 


84 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


caused him to draw his breath quickly. It seemed 
to him that he had seen those faces before. 

“ Yes,” he said, “ I am sure of it. I marked every 
man of those eight that we saw crossing the stream, 
and these are two of them. They have been out 
hunting, I suppose, and perhaps hung their game on 
the trees to be brought home with horses.” 

“ This hyar kind o’ exercise sort o’ gins me a appe- 
tite,” said one of them. “ I feel’s if I could eat ev- 
erything we’ve got in the den.” 

“ Yes,” said the other, “ it kind o’ sets a feller’s 
stomick on aige, I reckon. I’m tired o’ trampin’ 
about afoot when there’s no need on’t. ’F’t hadn’t 
been for Number One we’d a brought the horses 
along.” 

“ Bill Stark likes to hunt afoot,” remarked the first 
speaker ; “ I don’t. And he’ll tramp round ’thout 
gettin’ tired, longer’n any man I ever see.” 

“ Well,” said the other, “ I want some supper, and 
Bill may come along when he gits ready.” 

As their voices died away, Walter rose to his feet. 

“ I’ll follow them if it’s a possible thing,” he said. 
“ Here’s another link in the chain, and a long one, 
too ! O, it will come, I know it will ! It is lucky 
that I came out this afternoon.” 

Leaving his position on the rock, he followed in a 
course parallel to that of the robbers, although con- 
siderably higher, so that at every opening which they 
passed, he could see them plainly, meanwhile taking 
good care that they should not discover him. 

For a number of miles the two men strode on, their 
route upon the whole being circuitous, and the re- 
gion into which they plunged growing more wild. 
It was near sunset, and Walter felt that his good 
friend, the hermit, must soon become very anxious on 
his account ; yet the opportunity before him seemed 
too important to be neglected. 


WALTER ON THE WATCH. 


85 

The obstacles in his way increased as he proceeded, 
so that in order not to lose sight of the men for any 
considerable time, it was necessary to keep as near 
them as safety would permit ; and once or twice his 
eagerness became such that he escaped being seen 
by them only by the merest good luck. 

But at length he found that they were missing, 
and so suddenly that he was puzzled to know what 
could have become of them. 

“ It is strange I should have lost them entirely,” he 
said, “ but it must be that they have gone on some- 
how, though I don’t know in what direction. I 
hardly think their den can be just here.” 

He cautiously approached the spot where he had 
caught the last glimpse of them, and then placed 
himself in a position to look beyond it ; but they had 
vanished, and he saw that any further effort to trace 
them would be useless. 

It required no small amount of courage to remain 
even for a short time upon such dangerous ground, 
but Walter depended much on his watchfulness, and 
still more on his ability to run in case of need. He 
felt that in a fair field there was not a robber of them 
all who could catch him. 

“ Their hiding place cannot be far off,” he said, 
“ but I want to know exactly where it is. I mean to 
conceal myself here and wait for Bill Stark. When 
he comes I will see which way he turns from this 
place. He must be along soon, for he’s only hunting, 
and, of course, won’t stay out a great while after 
dark.” 

He crept into a position overlooking the path 
which he believed the two robbers to have followed, 
and closing about him a growth of low bushes, waited 
impatiently for Number One. 

The gathering dusk soon began to obscure the sur- 
rounding objects, and again he thought of Mr. Percy 


86 the mountain cave. 

and the anxiety he would naturally feel at such a 
prolonged absence. Once or twice he nearly resolved 
to abandon his watch and hasten to the cave without 
delay ; but then Bill Stark would probably be along 
in a few minutes, and it would be safer to see him 
pass than to run the risk of meeting him. 

The whippoorwills were calling out from the thick- 
ets ; an opossum ran along on the rocks, and a rac- 
coon came scratching down a neighboring tree, where 
it had probably been sleeping through the afternoon. 
Walter counted the minutes, for he was growing ner- 
vous and lonesome. 

“ The fellow may not pass this way, after all,” he 
reflected, ‘‘ and I will not wait much longer for him. 
I can keep a good lookout ahead on the way back, 
so that he will not be able to get a sight of me.” 

He was in an “ enemy’s country,” and his feelings 
were not unlike those of a border scout when lying 
in wait by some village of hostile savages. 


CHAPTER XYI. 

A POINT GAINED AND A PATH LOST. 

The wawl of a mountain lion at no great distance 
did not tend to increase the young watcher’s sense of 
security ; and when a lamentable sort of mewing 
among the rocks told that the animal was getting 
still nearer to him, his uneasiness grew apace. 

“Well, I’m in for it! ” he thought, “but I’ll fight 
only on the defensive. Robbers to right of me, and 
pumas to left of me, I’m as badly off as Tennyson’s 
‘Six Hundred!’” 

The feeling he experienced was far graver than his 
manner of expressing it. The puma might be in- 
considerate enough not to appreciate the delicacy of 
. his situation, and should necessity compel him to fire, 
the whole gang of villains might come rushing out 





WALTEK SUDDENLY SUKPRISED BY THE ENEMY. bee puge Od. 









88 the mountain cave. 

of their den to see what was taking place in their 
neighborhood. 

As Walter was revolving such a contingency, he 
was startled by the report of a gun, so near that it 
seemed almost deafening. The mountain lion gave 
a loud cry, but another shot quickly fired reduced it 
to silence. It had sprung into view with its last 
struggle, so that he could see it lying upon the 
ground, while the man who had fired approached 
and examined it. 

“Bill Stark!” thought Walter. “Now I wonder 
if the rest of them will swarm out to see what he has 
fired at.” 

But they did not “swarm.” Nobody came, and 
after a brief examination of the animal, the rob-^ 
ber strode on. As he passed behind a thicket, the 
ambushed watcher arose and followed him as silently 
as possible. 

Soon he was again in sight, but it was a very diffi- 
cult matter to watch him, and at the same time avoid 
detection, as his eyes were doing full duty. At some 
points he would come out into such plain view that 
his pursuer would be obliged to hide himself very 
quickly, and next there would be need of hastening 
the chase to avoid losing the direction altogether. 

Once he paused and listened, in the meantime 
looking all about him, but Walter was so close in the 
shadow of a thicket, that he could not be seen. He 
had trodden upon a dry stick, and it was the snap- 
ping of this which Number One had heard. A greater 
caution seemed necessary, and our young friend now 
followed more by sound than by sight, getting only 
brief glimpses of the robber. 

The retreating figure at length passed behind the 
point of a sharp rock, and when Walter reached the 
spot, he could neither see or hear anything which 
would give a clew to the direction taken. 


A POINT GAINED AND A PATH LOST. 


89 


The surroundings were of the most bewildering 
character — a strange mingling of thickets and crags. 
There were natural openings which looked as if noth- 
ing but a panther or grizzly bear had ever traversed 
them. There were rocks which seemed ready to fall 
from their places ; and dead trees with their roots in 
the air and their tops downward. 

Where Bill Stark had gone was a mystery. He 
had disappeared precisely as the others had done, 
but into what part of the labyrinth — whether upon 
the right hand or the left — was a problem beyond 
solution. 

Walter moved very cautiously, well knowing that 
the den of the robbers must be somewhere close at 
hand. But he had hardly time to take in all the 
wilderness of the scene, when he perceived at a little 
distance a sudden red glow, as if a lantern had just 
been lighted. It moved away, disappearing as if 
carried directly into the mountain, leaving for a mo- 
ment a faint gleam behind that quickly vanished. 

Going softly to the spot, he found himself shut in 
by earth and rocks above and on both sides. He 
ventured a little farther, and was in utter darkness. 
But through this, at what seemed a long distance, he 
again caught the gleam of the lantern. To follow it 
was, of course, out of the question, and he had only 
to stand watching the telltale glow till it was lost in 
some dark recess of what he now perceived must be 
a cave of great extent. 

“ This, then, is the robbers’ principal den,” he said, 
as he noiselessly retreated. “I have run a prodig- 
ious risk, but I’m glad I came. It seems as if I had 
got close to Mr. Mercer’s gold. How little I thought 
of following it up in this way when Maud was telling 
about it in the stage coach! I wonder what she 
would say if she knew where I am at this moment ? ” 

As he emerged into the open air, it was like com- 


90 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


ing out of a dark cellar ; and if he had not before 
been completely “ turned around ” as to the points of 
the compass, he certainly was so now. North, south, 
east, and west were all alike to him, while his situa- 
tion was rendered all the more nerve-trying from the 
apprehension every moment experienced that the 
next step might bring him in contact with one or 
more of the robbers. 

The thought of the uneasiness which Mr. Percy 
must feel on his account troubled him more than 
anything else. He knew that the hermit would not 
be able to rest quietly in his cave, but would be out 
in quest of him, spending perhaps the entire night 
in a vain search, and the idea of this brought a sense 
of self-condemnation. 

Twice he came upon the spot where Number One 
had killed the mountain lion, and seeing that he 
must have been moving in a circle, he struck out with 
a grim determination to keep a straight course. And 
he remembered also having somewhere read that a 
person who is lost always turns to the left — never to 
the right. 

“Well,” he mused, “ITl watch my left foot and 
make sure that it takes just as long steps as the 
other. I’ll remember, as a sailor would say, that 
there is a strong current setting to the left, and so 
guard against it.” 

This time he avoided the dead puma, yet was a 
little disturbed by the thought that perhaps the right 
leg might not now be holding its own, since the left 
had become aroused to a full sense of its duty. The 
stars were obscured by a haze, so that they afforded 
no guide, while thickets, rocks, and gulches were 
everywhere. 

Walter continued walking for a considerable time, 
till convinced that although he might have been able 
to keep a straight course, it was not the right one. 


A POINT GAINED AND A PATH LOST. 91 

He therefore swerved from it at a venture, but found 
himself only the more bewildered. 

“ There is one other thing I can do,” he said ; “ I 
can fire the gun, and if Mr. Percy should be within 
hearing he may answer by firing his rifie. I do hate 
to think that he is looking all about for me, tired and 
troubled. But then luckily he has his other gun, so 
that he would be able to keep off a grizzly or a puma 
out here in the dark.” 

He mounted a rock and fired twice, listening each 
time for an answer ; but all remained silent. Gazing 
about at the horizon, he at length determined upon 
what seemed to him as being more probably than any 
other the proper course, and getting down from the 
rock, he pursued his way as fast as the darkness 
would permit. But doubt grew stronger and stronger 
as he advanced, and after a mile or two he once more 
came to a halt, discharging both barrels of his gun 
as before, and again waiting in vain for a reply. 

To wander longer in this state of uncertainty would 
be folly, as he might with every step be getting far- 
ther from the right path to the cave. 

“ I’ll remain here till morning,” he said to himself, 
“ and then I may be able to see how far I have gone 
out of the way and where I am. ” Yet he did not feel 
quite sure that even daylight would resolve all doubt. 

To a spirit that is naturally adventurous there is a 
charm in difficult situations, and had it not been for 
the thought of Mr. Percy, our young friend would 
hardly have regretted the mishap which had thus 
left him to pass a night in the solitary wilderness. 

He had in his pocket a few cases of njatches, placed 
there at the time of exploring the hermit’s cave, and 
now gathering a quantity of dry grass and piling 
brushwood upon it, he set the heap on fire. Next he 
collected a number of dead limbs from fallen trees 
and added them to the rest. 


92 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


The blaze had a cheerful look as it rolled up 
against the side of a large rock, and Walter, feeling 
that he had nothing more to do for the present, 
threw himself down beneath a tree and watched the 
brands as they crackled and fell slowly away one af- 
ter another. He thought of Ralph and the night en- 
campments which the hermit had described him as 
making among the mountains, and almost wished 
that he himself were obliged to find his home in such 
rugged places with no company but his rifle. 

For the greater part of the night the activity of 
his thoughts prevented sleep, and two or three times 
he arose and recruited the fire, feeling a real enjoy- 
ment in doing so from the mere novelty of the thing. 
It had always been a saying of Mrs. Dayton that her 
boy was at home anywhere, and could she have seen 
him in his present situation, she would have been 
doubly impressed with the fact. He gathered up the 
fuel with a real enjoyment, and lay down to see it 
bum with all the satisfaction of a Robin Hood. 

At length he fell into a brief nap of perhaps an 
hour, and when he awoke the sky was reddened with 
the streaks of daybreak. 


CHAPTER XVn. 

COMPANY AT BREAKFAST. 

As the light broadened, the scene around took on a 
wonderful ruggedness and grandeur, but to this 
Walter had become accustomed. It was now his 
chief anxiety to find whether anything within the 
scope of his vision would assist him in deciding upon 
the point toward which he ought to direct his course. 

East he could now distinguish from west, and as a 
consequence, north from south. But was he in a 
much better condition on this account, since it was 
impossible to say from what direction he had reached 


COMPANY AT BKEAKFAST. 


93 


his present standpoint? Where was the robbers’ 
cave — to his right or to his left ? behind him or be- 
fore him as he stood ? Of this he knew no more than 
he had at midnight. All things still had that ap- 
pearance to him which they always have to a person 
who is lost. 

“Well,” he thought, “I am no ‘babe in the 
woods ’ ; I have got out of worse difficulties than this 
within the last fortnight, and I’ll just take it coolly. 
The more a fellow frets when he’s in trouble, the 
worse it is for him.” 

Feeling quite hungry, as he had eaten nothing 
since the previous noon, he resolved to shoot a rab- 
bit and broil it upon a stick for his breakfast. Then 
he would feel refreshed and be able to take a fair 
start in one direction or another. 

As rabbits were numerous among the rocks, he had 
no difficulty in securing one. Then dressing it and 
rekindling his fire, he broiled it in the Indian fashion 
over the glowing coals. He took all possible care not 
to burn it, as the savages often do, but to cook it 
evenly outside and in. When it was done, he laid it 
to cool on a broad strip of bark, and it certainly had 
a very tempting odor. 

Walter felt that the want of salt might prove a 
serious drawback, but he hoped that a good ap23etite 
would go far to supply its place. So, making a table 
of a small elevation at the foot of the tree where he 
had slept, and using the piece of bark for a plate, he 
prepared to take his meal. And here let me say 
in parenthesis, that such a meal, so rude, so simple, 
taken in the wild wood, has a relish which all the 
conveniences and fine arts of cookery fail to give in a 
house. 

He had just opened his jack-knife, preparatory to 
cutting off one of the fore quarters, Avhen a step close 
behind the tree by which he sat caused him to look 


94 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


up in alarm. His heart leaped to his throat as he 
saw within ten feet of him the figure of a man with a 
gun. 

“ One of the robbers,” was his first thought, but 
almost instantly he saw his mistake. 

“ Kalph ! Ralph ! ” he cried, forgetting that the 
shape before him was as deaf as the mountain itself, 
“ where have you come from ? How glad I am to see 
you ! ” 

It seemed as if the sight of a human being gave 
him for the first time a realizing sense of his loneli- 
ness. Ralph watched the motion of his lips and 
smiled, as if the thought of an outburst of words ad- 
dressed to a mere post amused him. Then he made 
signs, first of explanation, and next of inquiry. They 
were given more deliberately than usual, so that Wal- 
ter interpreted most of them with but little diffi- 
culty. 

He gathered that Ralph was on his way to the 
hermit ; that he had slept in the woods that night ; 
and that he had in some way lost his matches, so 
that he could not make a fire that mornin’g. 

“ Glad of it,” thought Walter ; “ he has not had a 
good warm breakfast, only some bits of dry bread, I 
suppose, and this rabbit will go to the right place.” 

He signified these thoughts to Ralph as well as he 
was able, and found that a bit ’of rabbit would be 
Very acceptable. The mute guest must have seen 
with what heartj^ good will the invitation to break- 
fast was extended, for to the young host the occasion 
was a complete delight, to say nothing of his relief 
at so unexpected an escape from a longer wandering. 

Ralph had plenty of salt, so that the rabbit would 
not lack seasoning, after all, and he produced also a 
few small crackers which made an excellent comple- 
ment. 

Their pantomimic discourse had to be, in some 


COMPANY AT BREAKFAST. 


J5 

measure, suspended during the meal, as one can 
hardly converse with facility in the sign language, 
and eat rabbit at the same time. More than once 
Walter caught himself addressing his companion in 
words, and then Ralph would laugh at the earnest 
manner, though he had to guess at the rest. He 
saw perhaps how difficult it was for his companion to 
gesticulate without speaking at the same time. 

The very enjoyable repast being over, each tried to 
inform the other in the way of particulars as to what 
had taken place since their previous meeting, but the 
endeavor was not very successful on either side. For 
though Ralph was skilled in his own sign language, 
he found it as difficult to understand Walter as did 
Walter to understand him. Our young lad could ar- 
rive at generalities, but was perplexed by details. 

By holding up both hands, with the fingers and 
thumbs spread, Ralph told him that it was ten miles 
to the hermit’s cave, though it seemed incredible 
that he could have wandered so far. He reflected, 
however, that, as he had at first followed the robbers 
for at least half that distance, and had taken a wrong 
course afterwards, it was not strange that he should 
find himself where he was. His sole anxiety was now 
for the hermit, who might be miles from his home, 
engaged in a vain and weary search. 

Refres-hed by their early breakfast, the two com- 
panions set out for the cave, stopping once by the 
way to drink at a clear spring with which Ralj^h was 
familiar, and where they saw the broad footprints of 
a grizzly bear, looking as if just imprinted in the 
stony soil. 

As they traveled on, Walter’s tongue would some- 
times forget, in spite of him, that its office was now 
delegated to the hands ; and, in fact, he found it 
quite as difficult to converse by signs while walking 
^s it had been while eating. 


96 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


From every favorable position, they scanned the 
surrounding region, hoping to see Mr. Percy if he 
were really out and thus save him from further 
trouble. At length Ralph, coming to a full stop, like 
an Irish setter, pointed towards a cliff at some dis- 
tance aside from their course. Walter looked and 
saw a human figure just coming up from the other 
side of the rock. 

“ Hello ! ” shouted the boy with a voice that could 
have been heard a mile off, at the same time waving 
his arm. 

“ Hello ! ” returned the figure with an answering 
wave. 

“ Oh, Ralph ! ” cried Walter, “ isn’t this a streak of 
good luck ? How near we were to leaving him be- 
hind ! ” And then bethinking himself, he would 
have translated the words into pantomime, but just 
then couldn’t think of the motions. 

Mr. Percy clambered down from his position, and 
they hastened to meet him. He was deeply thankful 
to find Walter safe. 

“ I have not closed my eyes,” he said, “ since you 
have been gone. Last night I was out on the moun- 
tain, lighting fires, and at times firing my rifle. 
Finally I went home, hoping you might have re- 
turned in my absence, and this morning I started 
again. I climbed that rock for a better observation, 
and it appears^ that you had just got into a position 
to see me and be seen by me as I reached the 
top.” 

Walter expressed a sincere concern for the trouble 
he had so unintentionally given, and beginning with 
the start, related his adventures in full. 

I thought of you all the while,” he said, “ and 
when it began to look as if I would have to spend the 
night in the open air I felt ready to fly. It plagued 
me to think you would be alarmed and go looking 


COMPANY AT BKEAKFA8T. 97 

for me. But I hadn’t the least idea where I was, and 
so had to make the best of it.” 

“Well, I thank Heaven that nothing worse has 
come of it,” said the hermit. “You ran too great a 
risk. It was a rash thing for you to lie in wait for 
the robbers in such a place, and still more rash to 
follow one of them into the den as you did. But I 
am glad to hear of the discovery you have made ; it 
will save time and trouble. This gang must be 
rooted out at once, and what you have just learned 
will prove a great help.” 

Mr. Percy had no difficulty in arriving at all that 
Ralph had to tell. They conversed together with 
hands and arms flying like shutters, while Walter 
eagerly awaited the translation of the dialogue. 

Mr. Dayton, Ralph signified, was absent from the 
country, having unexpectedly been called upon busi- 
ness down to the coast of old California. He knew 
nothing of his son’s capture, but he had expected to 
be gone only two or three weeks, and would there- 
fore soon be at home. 

Walter’s mother had received the letter of the rob- 
bers and had got his own immediately afterwards. 
She had come at once from San Francisco and sought 
out Ralph, who assured her that he would bring the 
boy back with him, but he had been obliged to spend 
some time in nursing a sick relative, and this was 
what had delayed his return. 

He had also discovered the Mercers, finding them 
very poor. Mr. Mercer had been prostrated by his 
loss and was still in a very depressed condition. His 
wife was suffering from illness, but Maud, the daugh- 
ter, was the good angel of both. 

“ She mud be, I know,” said Walter, impulsively, 
“ she couldn’t help being so ! ” 

“ To think that all tliis unhappiness should have 
been brought about by those villains ! ” murmured 


98 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


Mr. Percy, while Walter’s dark eyes glowed as he 
thought of the “ good angel ” and the possibility of 
serving her. 

The three now proceeded towards the cave, and on 
reaching it, they were glad to throw themselves upon 
the comfortable bearskins for rest. 


CHAPTEK XVIII. 

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE. 

“I THINK it would be my best course,” said Walter, 
“to go back with Ralph to-morrow, tell my story, 
and see what can be done about the robbers.” 

“Yes,” replied the hermit, “you will be able to 
give information of great value. The officers of the 
law will undoubtedly move in the matter as soon as 
they can learn anything definite as to the where- 
abouts of the gang.” 

“ I believe I could go straight to the place in the 
daytime, even though I did get lost last night,” re- 
joined the young adventurer. 

“I do not doubt it,” said Mr. Percy, “you could 
take your departure from the spot where you first 
saw the two men, and you would not be likely to get 
far out of the way.” 

“But, after all,” said Walter, “the mouth of their 
den is more difficult to find than one would imagine. 
I almost wonder how they can get back there them- 
selves in the dark, when they have been out on a 
foray.” 

“ It is a wild and strange state of things,” remarked 
the hermit, “and these are desperate men. The 
deeds of the old English highwaymen were on a very 
small scale as compared with theirs.” 

“ I suppose so ; though I have never read much of 
the old highwaymen. My mother would never have 
allowed such books in the house.” 


PLANS FOR THE FUTURE. 


99 


she is wise. A thief is no less a thief because 
he rides a horse ; and Tom King and Dick Turpin 
\r2re no better than other thieves.” 

“ In what way will a band of men manage so as to 
capture the robbers ? ” asked Walter. “ It looks very 
difficult.” 

“ Yes, it will be difficult ; but the management 
must depend wholly on the circumstances that may 
present themselves. It will probably be done mostly 
by stratagem. A direct attack would be like the 
storming of a fort, and would no doubt cost a num- 
ber of lives. The villains would fight desperately if 
driven to bay, and their knowledge of the region 
would give them a great advantage. I hope they 
will be secured without bloodshed on either 
, “So do I,” replied Walter, “though I don’t believe 
I would wear crape for old Eli Stark, if he should 
happen to get killed. The miserable old villain ! I 
can’t help thinking of him as he appeared that day 
in the stage.” 

“But he is the very man who, above all others, 
must not be killed ! We are all selfish, Walter, and 
the life of this old criminal is very dear to me.” 

The remark seemed strange, yet Walter was 
scarcely surprised by it after all that had passed. 

“Now,” continued Mr. Percy,, “we cannot know 
how many hiding places they may have, but it seems 
probable that the den you have just discovered may 
be the principal one. That where you were impris- 
oned you would not be able to find again unless by 
accident. They must have some place where they 
keep their horses. These are probably picketed a 
part of the time in some opening where there is 
grass, but they must be sheltered at night to be kept 
from the wolves. There are places enough within 
the circuit of a few miles where a dozen or twenty 
horses could be hidden almost as securely as if they 


100 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


were in the moon, and yet have plenty of rich 
grass.” 

“ Of course,” said Walter, “ I could not go straight 
to the place where they carried me that first night, 
but I am sure from what they said to each other that 
their treasure is not there. I wish they were not so 
scattered. It seems to me, though, that if I were to 
look for my old prison I could find it at last. It is 
away up among some rocks, and they had a good 
deal of difficulty in getting me there blindfolded. 
But I wasn’t blindfolded when I came skipping out 
of it. I remember how it looks, only I don’t know 
where it is.” 

“ As to that,” replied Mr. Percy, “ I can make a 
tolerably good guess from your description and from 
thinking what course you must have taken after get- 
ting out. I know something of the mountains, and 
while you are gone I shall not be idle.” 

“ How glad I am that they took me prisoner ! ” said 
Walter. 

“ They made a great mistake when they did so, I 
do think,” replied his good hermit friend. 

“I told them what to expect.” 

‘‘ Yes, I don’t doubt you did ! I can see that in 
you.” 

“ And you think my affair has done some good ? ” 

“Good! it has done everything. Nobody knew 
anything about them before. You may some time 
know what you accomplished by that leap from the 
rock.” 

“ It brought me here, that is true ; and I am glad 
it happened, if only for that.” 

Never had Walter spoken with more sincere feel- 
ing. There was a magnetism about that long-haired 
man which strongly attracted him. 

“You thought me a robber when you first saw 
me,” said Mr. Percy, “ and no wonder I ” 


PLANS FOR THE FUTURE, IQl 

“ Yes, and I was wondering how I might escape 
from you.” 

“I think you were sent, Walter,” said the hermit ; 
“ at all events we shall know some time whether you 
were or not.” 

That evening Ralph was as communicative as it is 
possible for a dumb man to be, and his hermit host 
seemed to read his gestures as if they were written 
sentences. 

Sometimes he told of his encounters with bears 
and pumas. Think of a man fighting with a roaring 
bear, when in his own brain there is utter silence ! 

Mr. Percy would occasionally explain to Walter : 

“You see he is showing us a place on his head 
where the skull seems to have been fractured. A 
grizzly did that — he has shown it to me before.” 

Walter laid his finger in the broken place and won- 
dered how a man could have lived after such a 
wound. 

“ Now he is rolling up his sleeve to show how his 
arm once fared from a mountain lion.” 

All this was of some interest, but Walter and the 
hermit were both thinking more of other matters. 

“I am glad he went to Mr. Mercer’s,” said our 
young lad, “ that is the best of all.” 

“Yes,” said Mr. Percy, “I am glad of it, too. I 
am sorry to learn that the poor man is so cast down. 
It is the thought of his wife and daughter that 
troubles him. He pointed at them, Ralph tells me, 
and signified that if he had but a twentieth part of 
the property he had lost it would make him happy 
once more.” 

“ I hope he will get back more of it than that,” 
said Walter. “ I’m in a great hurry to let him know 
there is some hope.” 

“You and Ralph will go there,” replied the hermit, 
“ but of course you cannot give much assurance as 


102 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


yet. Not a dollar of the treasure may ever be recov- 
ered, even should all the robbers be captured.” 

“Oh, I know that,” answered Walter, “and shall 
take care not to say too much. It almost stops my 
breath to think of finding it ! ” 

He was in high spirits at the thought of meeting 
that pretty traveling companion with whom he had 
never yet exchanged a single word, but who, as he 
felt, would be so glad to talk with him of the events 
of that memorable ride. 

Thus with alacrity he prepared for the morrow’s 
journey. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

THE JOURNEY WITH RALPH. 

It had been settled that Walter should take Mr. 
Percy’s gun, for the hermit would hear nothing of 
his going upon a mountain tramp of forty miles un- 
armed. 

“ You may need it, my good boy,” he said, “ before 
you shall have made a quarter of the distance. And 
now I charge you not to take any unnecessary risks. 
If you meet a bear, and he will let you alone, let him 
alone, by all means ! I know how your parents would 
feel, and, for the present, let me stand in the place of 
both of them. ” 

“ I thank you, Mr. Percy, ” said the boy, deeply 
moved by the good man’s solicitude, “and I shall 
remember your advice. I hope my father and mother 
will some day have a chance to thank you, too, for 
your kindness to me. I shall return to you as soon 
as possible after setting things in motion. I feel just 
as if we were to have old Eli before a court of justice 
and get back all Mr. Mercer’s gold ! ” 

His hopes were as strong and rugged as his sur- 
roundings ; and indeed it does seem as if a person in 


THE JOUENEY WITH EALPH. 


103 


a mountainous region must be inspired with more 
vigorous thoughts than one upon a plain. There is 
a lifting of the spirit, as if nature would permit no 
despondency. 

“ What a shame that I should be obliged to take 
your gun, ” he said, “ while I have a three hundred 
dollar rifle somewhere here among the mountains ! ” 

“ Perhaps it will come to light some day,” said Mr. 
Percy. 

“ Oh, I am determined that it shall ! ” said Walter, 
“ though that is a very small matter. I am going to 
have my gun back one of these days, you may be 
sure.” 

So they started out — Walter and his mute compan- 
ion — Mr. Percy waving them a hopeful farewell from 
a point of the mountain rock, as they plunged into 
the wilderness. 

“What a good man he is,” thought Walter, “and 
how much he cares for me! Just for his sake, if for 
no other reason, I will try to take care of myself.” 

The only disagreeable feature of the journey, he 
believed, would lie in the lack of sociability ; for, 
though it may not necessarily be a hardship to travel 
alone, it certainly is so to walk mile after mile beside 
one to whom we cannot speak. He soon found, how- 
ever, that Kalph possessed the art of beguiling the 
way by such powers of observation as he would prob- 
ably never have possessed but for his great infirmity. 

Instead of going on as Walter had imagined he 
might do, with all the stolid indifference of a dumb 
animal, he was constantly trying to interest his com- 
panion in the details of woodcraft or in the peculiar 
scenes by the way. He pointed out to tis young 
friend that the north side of the rocks and trees was 
not like the south side. He gave him to understand 
that what is called a “ trail ” is often faint as the 
faintest shadow ; and that, though revealed instan- 


104 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


taneously by a sweeping glance, it will sometimes 
vanish if regarded very steadily. This he illustrated 
by the almost imperceptible trace of a fleeing deer. 
The path it left appeared little more than imaginary, 
yet it was there nevertheless, and a trained eye could 
detect it for just a moment at a time. 

Nothing escaped his observation. Once he picked 
up an arrow head, and showed how it had been fitted 
to the shaft ; at another spot he paused by a great 
tree that had long creases in the bark, and gave his 
companion to understand that the marks had been 
made by wild animals when sharpening their claws 
there. 

The unmeasured miles, however, seemed very long ; 
and Walter was glad when they camped in the woods 
for the night, though Kalph did not seem in the least 
fatigued. 

Next morning the tramp was resumed ; and in the 
afternoon they came to a log house which seemed to 
be completely in the wilderness. As they were in 
need of water, Ealph signified that they would stop 
there, though he gave Walter to understand by an 
expressive pantomime that the inmates were surly 
and that he did not like them. 

The door was open, but no one came at their 
knock. After repeating it and waiting some time in 
vain, they ventured to- step within, to the water pail 
which stood close at hand. Walter cast a hasty 
glance around the rude apartment, taking in its be- 
longings in a hurried manner, and mentally noting 
the objects he saw. 

It was better furnished than he had expected to 
find it ; but what particularly struck his attention 
was a Winchester rifle of such costly finish as would 
have made it an object of note almost anywhere. 
What was strangest, however, was that the weapon 
had an extremely familiar look, insomuch that he felt 


THE JOUKNEY WITH RALPH. 105 

a growing surprise as his eyes continued to rest 
upon it. 

Considering himself an intruder, and feeling al- 
most a sense of guilt from having entered uninvited, 
he hesitated to make any examination of the piece. 

“ I am foolish,” he said to himself, “ there are thou- 
sands of well-finished rifles that look just alike, and 
it is absurd to think that this can be mine. How 
could my rifle have got here ? ” 

Still it did look so like it ! There is a something 
about articles that we have handled as our own, 
which reveals their identity — a spirit, so to speak. 
Other implements may exactly resemble them in all 
their material make up, but our intuition tells us that 
they are not the same. We cannot tell wherein the 
difference lies, but simply feel that it exists. 

“ I could decide the case in an instant, if the gun 
were in my hands,” thought Walter. “There is a 
small private mark on the guard of mine that no 
other rifle in the world can have. But I do hate to 
meddle with the man’s gun in his own house, when 
I’m already an intruder. And the thought is such 
nonsense too ! I will, though 1 ” he added, “ it will 
take but a moment.” 

He was about to lay his hand on the rifle, when a 
footstep at the door caused him to pause as if de- 
tected in an act of too great freedom in a stranger’s 
house ; and a tall, masculine woman entered, frown- 
ing ominously, 

“ Look a-yere,” she said, “ I don’t ’low no travelers 
to make a tavern o’ my house. What yer doin’ yere, 
any way ? ” 

Walter explained that they had called for a drink 
of water, and apologized for having entered uninvited. 
The woman, however, refused to be mollified by any 
explanation, and peremptorily ordered them to quit 
the premises, which they were very willing to do. 


106 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


As they passed on, he could not help thinking 
about the gun. How unusual it must be, he reflected, 
to find a rifle of such exquisite finish among people 
living away off in the woods. 

“ I do believe it is mine, after all ! ” he said, “ for it 
looked exactly like it in every particular.. If the 
woman had not entered just as she did, I should have 
been able to decide for certain.” 

Balph’s motions indicated that he had once seen a 
man and a lad there, who seemed to be hunters, and 
that they could not and would not understand his 
signs. 

Walter tried to tell him of the gun and his sus- 
picions, and he found that Kalph, too, had noticed the 
weapon. His fingers flew quick to describe it, but he 
was evidently incredulous as to its identity with his 
young friend’s rifle which he had never seen. Still 
our lad thought much of the matter, and wondered if 
this were another footmark, as it were, in the rob- 
bers’ trail. 

They soon proceeded rapidly towards a settlement 
some miles distant, and reached it without further 
adventure, tired enough to be glad of a good night’s 
rest, and with appetites that would have done credit 
to a couple of miners. 


CHAPTER XX. 

WITH MAUD MEKCER. 

The incident of the gun continued to perplex Wal- 
ter’s thoughts. True, it might not, after all, be his 
gun, but he could not help feeling that it was. Yet 
the stronger his suspicions, the more important it 
seemed that they should not be openly breathed for 
the present. 

As to his own escape from the robbers, that, for ob- 
vious reasons, had been kept as secret as possible. If 


WITH MAUD MEKCER. 


107 


they were to take alarm from the idea that any clew 
to their whereabouts had been obtained, the difficulty 
of apprehending them would of course, be greatly in- 
creased. Kalph would accompany him to Mr. Mer- 
cer’s house, after which an interview would be had 
with the deputy sheriff, and the plan of future oper- 
ations arranged to be carried out as secretly as pos- 
sible. 

It was a walk of several miles to the rude log cabin 
of the Mercers, the best house which the family could 
now afford, and Walter felt a queer little flutter at the 
heart as he neared it. So here was the home of that 
pretty fellow passenger of his, who perhaps might 
never have given him a thought since then, but for 
the strange misfortune that had befallen him. He 
remembered the color of her eyes and the perfect 
outline of her fair face. 

His heart beat fast as he knocked at the door, and 
still faster as a light step was heard approaching in 
answer to the rap. The latch was lifted by a young 
girl neatly but plainly dressed, who with a half court- 
esy glanced first at Walter, then at Kalph, and then 
at Walter again. For an instant her face grew pale, 
then quickly lighted up, as if the young blood had in 
it the flush of a thousand roses. It was a face per- 
fectly beautiful, where all the changes of feeling were 
revealed upon the moment. 

“I — I — ” stammered Walter, “ do you — ” 

“ Oh ! I know — I know — the stage coach — it is 
you indeed ! You are the boy who was with me ! It 
is so surprising ! Come in, please.” And then she 
made a gesture of welcome to Ralph, who accompa- 
nied his companion into the house. 

The reception which our young friend met with 
from Mr. Mercer and his wife was full of feeling. 
They asked a thousand questions and listened with 
breathless interest to Walter’s modest account of all 


108 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


the strange adventures that had happened to him 
since his captivity. 

“ Oh, how many times Maud has related the events 
of that stage ride ! ” said Mrs. Mercer, “ and how much 
she has talked of the scene when you were made 
prisoner ! She feared you would never escape, and 
your fate troubled her greatly, until this deaf and 
dumb man, whom we had never seen before, told us 
of your safety.” 

“ You were brave enough to take her part,” said 
Mr. Mercer, “ when one of the robbers became uncivil 
to her, and for that we all thank you more than we 
can express.” 

Maud’s bright face flushed deeply, and tears of true 
feeling rose to her eyes, as her father said this. 

“ I thought,” she remarked, “ when that old man 
was trying to persuade the robbers not to take you 
away, that he was a true friend to you ; and you 
can’t think how it surprised me when the deaf man 
told us that this excellent old gentleman belonged 
to the gang ! After the stage was allowed to go on, 
he talked to the passengers as if he were one of the 
most feeling men in the world, and said that such 
shameful outrages ought to be put a stop to at once. 
He blamed the authorities for not being more active, 
and said he meant to see if something could not be 
done in this particular case.” 

“ Yes,” said her mother, “ Maud was full of praises 
of that kind old gentleman, so that I really desired to 
see him ! She believed, too, that he must be a man 
of some influence, and hoped that he would stir the 
matter to the bottom ! ” 

“ My hopes,” remarked Mr. Mercer, “ of recovering 
even a small portion of my property are very slight. 
Before I learned of your adventure, I had no hope 
whatever. Our good friend here, who took the pains 
to seek me out, made known to me what you had dis- 


WITH MAUD MERCER. 


109 


covered so far as you had then gone ; but I think 
your discovery of the second cave still more impor- 
tant, as that probably is the principal den. I now 
think that there would be a chance of reclaiming 
some of the spoils should a descent be made upon 
the gang in a proper manner.” 

“I think so, too,” said Walter, “but then, of course, 
there are a great many chances of missing it. If they 
should get the least wind of what is intended, or of 
what we know about them, it would be all up with 
us.” 

“ The only hope I have,” replied Mr. Mercer, 
“ rests upon the probability that they would not have 
attempted to convey so large an amount of gold out 
of the mountains as yet, but would be more likely to 
hide it where they hide themselves.” 

“ Oh, how dangerous it will be,” said Maud, “ to 
look for them in their hiding place ! It would be 
better to remain poor than to run such a dreadful 
risk ! ” 

“I do not think so,” replied her father. “If by 
risking my life I could stand a good chance-of recov- 
ering what I have lost, I would gladly do so. But I 
hope the capture of the gang may be effected with- 
out any great danger. They must, if possible, be 
taken wholly by surprise.” 

“ Still I cannot help shuddering to think of it,” said 
Maud. “ Oh ! do take good care of yourselves, if it 
must be done — it all appears so dreadful ! ” And the 
mother joined with her daughter in the entreaty that 
nothing rash should be attempted. 

“Your hermit friend,” said Mr. Mercer, “must be 
a remarkable character from what you tell me of him. 
It is very singular that such a man should have 
chosen the life he is leading.” 

“ Yes, sir, it seems strange ; but I think he has 
been terribly wronged in some way, and I believe the 


110 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


old robber we have been talking about had something 
to do with it.” 

“I cannot imagine,” observed Mr. Mercer “where 
he can have met with me. Percy — Mr. Percy — I have 
no recollection of ever having been acquainted with 
any one of that name.” 

“ I am not quite sure that it is his real name after 
all — he said I might call him so,” replied Walter. 

“And he seems to feel a personal interest in me, 
you think ? ” 

“Yes, sir ; he spoke as if that were the case.” 

“And you believe that he, too, has suffered from 
that old man of the stage coach ? ” 

“I feel sure of it,” said Walter, “from a few ex- 
pressions that he dropped ; but he told me that I 
must ask him no questions. I think he has some 
hope that if the robbers should be brought to justice, 
something might turn up in his favor, and that he 
wishes to remain unknown unless it should be so.” 

“ I wonder,” remarked Mr. Mercer, “ that anything 
a gang of robbers could do should cause an honest 
man to hide himself in the wilderness. It seems hard 
to understand how he could have become a hermit 
from such a circumstance.” 

“But he had no idea,” explained Walter, “that 
these men were robbers till my affair happened. I 
think he has known them, ‘or one of them, at least, 
somewhere else.” 

“ Well,” replied Mr. Mercer, “ his case is a puzzle 
to me. He must be very odd at the best. There is 
something romantic in the idea of an educated man 
living in a cave in the manner he does, but it is a sad, 
dreamy kind of romance.” 

“You can’t think how strange it seems to me to be 
in a house ! ” Walter observed, looking about him. 
“ I feel all the time as if there were something miss- 
ing. It appears odd not to see the rock walls shut- 


A BOUGH VISITOB. HI 

ting me in, and to look out of windows and 
doors.” 

Mrs. Mercer was quite feeble, so that Maud was the 
active spirit of the household. She prepared tea ; 
and in watching her as she flew lightly about at her 
task, Walter felt that she looked even prettier than 
when in the stage coach. As he saw her neat and 
delicate table arrangement, he thought with a kind 
of disgust of his morning meal in the forest, when he 
had cooked a poor little rabbit on a stick! Then, 
too, he thought of his culinary achievements in the 
cave, and how awkward they would have appeared to 
her could she have witnessed them ! 

She laughed merrily as he described some of his 
housekeeping, perhaps thinking that it was all which 
could have been expected from a boy, though she did 
not say so. When the little family was seated at the 
table, she poured the tea and helped Walter to the 
plain but excellently prepared dishes. 

How happy he felt I What was all the rude hos- 
pitality of caves and woods, where there was no pretty 
Maud Mercer to spread the cloth or pour out the 
tea? 


CHAPTER XXL 

A KOUGH VISITOR. 

Mr. Mercer did not expect to remain permanently 
where he now was, but had accepted this home for 
the time being until he should be able to look about 
him for some business which should offer a comfort- 
able support. Since his health had improved, he had 
met with a promise of employment which would 
shortly be open to him, and though it was little bet- 
ter than drudgery, he felt glad to accept it. Maud, 
however, would still be denied the school advantages 
she had once enjoyed, as her mother’s feebleness, and 


112 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


the smallness of her father’s means, would be insur- 
mountable obstacles in the way of her leaving 
home. 

“ It troubles me beyond measure,” said Mr. Mercer, 
while she was out of the room for a moment — “ she 
was so happy, and was progressing so fast with her 
studies. She tries to go on with them at home, but 
it is not like being at school. I am in hopes that 
things will grow somewhat better with us by and by, 
but my plans of every kind have been crushed by 
this misfortune, and I can see very little encourage- 
ment.” 

“ I am sure that Maud feels the blow very keenly,” 
said her mother, “but she tries very hard to conceal 
her disappointment. Her concern is for her father 
and me ; she knows that we are troubled more on 
her account than our own, and she wishes us to feel 
that the change in her condition is nothing which 
can make her unhappy.” 

“ Yes,” said Mr. Mercer, “ she has shed many tears 
for us, but not one, I think, for herself. While she is 
left to us we are certainly not desolate ; and I do 
wish that I could have a more realizing sense of this. 
But, Walter, when all that a man has gathered in a 
lifetime is swept away at a single stroke, and espe- 
cially as mine has gone, it is something terrible to 
bear ! ” 

“I should think so,” said Walter ; “I should think 
it must be dreadful. How I wish it could be recov- 
ered ! and I believe it will be ! ” 

“You are more sanguine than I am,” was the re- 
ply, “ but your story gives me a gleam of hope, and 
I am determined to leave nothing undone in that di- 
rection. The sheriff, you are sure, will be here to- 
morrow ? ” 

“ Yes, sir ; Ealph is well acquainted with him, and 
will bring him here to talk with you.” 


A BOUGH VISITOE. 


113 


It was evident that Mr. Mercer was beginning to 
feel encouraged, and as to Walter, his confidence in 
the success of the undertaking was now greater than 
ever. His sympathies had much to do with his 
hopes, and so it seemed to him that justice must tri- 
umph. 

In the glow of sunset he accompanied Maud about 
the romantic rocks near her home, and they forgot all 
else in conversing of that vividly-remembered ride in 
the stage coach and the events that had succeeded it. 

“ How dreadfully frightened I was ! ” she said ; I 
cannot tell how I got out of the stage. When you 
spoke to the man that was so insolent to me, I trem- 
bled all over, for I did not know what horrid thing 
they might do to you. And since then you have 
lived in a cave ! I would like to know how a cave 
looks, for I never saw one.” 

“ Oh, I wish you could see that one,” replied Wal- 
ter ; “ it is grand — all studded with shining crystals 
like stars ! And away in, two miles from its mouth, 
there is a lake that reaches no one knows how far. 
Mr. Percy and I intend to explore it soon in a little 
canoe that he has made.” 

“ That will be nice ! but isn’t there danger of get- 
ting lost ? I should be afraid to go so far under- 
ground, and on a lake, too. It must be dark, I should 
think.” 

“Yes, it is dark, but we shall carry four lanterns in 
the canoe, and the danger of getting lost will not be 
much.” 

“ I should get lost the first thing, I am sure ! ” 

“ Why, Miss Mercer ! you wouldn’t if you were a 
boy.” 

“ I know boys can do almost anything, Mr. Day- 
ton!’^ 

“Oh, please don’t, now! ” laughed Walter, nobody 
ever ' Mistered ’ me before ! ” 


114 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“ But you called me ‘ Miss Mercer ! ’ ” 

“Well, then, say ‘Walter,’ and I will say ‘Maud.’ 
I didn’t know that you — that you thought as I do 
about such things.” 

“ Do you really think the robbers have not made 
away with my father’s gold, and there is a good pros- 
pect of getting it back ? ” 

“ I certainly do — but then I ” He thought of 

Mr. Percy’s caution. “ Of course, we may be disap- 
pointed — it all depends so on circumstances.” 

“ Oh, I do hope some of it may be recovered, my 
father has been so dreadfully cast down. He was so 
lively and full of his pleasantest sayings once, and 
now he suffers so much ! ” 

“ He thinks it will be hard for you.” 

“ Yes ; but if he and mother could be happy, I 
would not mind myself.” 

“ I know. I should feel as you do. But then — Oh, 
it is too bad ! ” 

“ Of course, it is a great disappointment to me. 
This is a rude place where we live now, and the peo- 
ple are not like those I used to see.” 

“Perhaps they may be kind-hearted, though. I 
thought at first that the hermit was one of the rob- 
bers.” 

“ Yes ; but he is a gentleman, you say. You would 
know after a few words what he is. I am glad to 
have some of the rough people call here, because I 
know that they are well-meaning, but there are oth- 
ers that I wish would keep away. There is one, a 
young man that comes around on horseback — ^and — 
and ” 

“ A young man ! ” 

“ Yes ; I never saw him till a short time ago. One 
day when I was out, I heard the report of a rifii* close 
to me, and a moment after a wounded deer came 
crashing through a thicket right up to the place 


A ROUGH NISITOR. 


115 


where I stood. I screamed when I saw it coming, 
but it fell dead a few yards from me. Then a young 
man with a gun came dashing after it, and when he 
saw me he apologized in his rough way for having 
‘ sheered me most to death,’ as he said. I turned to 
go home, but he kept close to my side and went to 
the house with me. I wouldn’t have minded his 
roughness,' but he was bold and impertinent, and 
kept praising my looks ; and since then he has come 
around very often. He won’t believe that we don’t 
want his company.” 

“Is he good-looking?” asked Walter, with a touch 
of anxiety. 

“/ do not think him good-looking,” said Maud, 
“ he has such a hard, confident look, but his features 
are well enough. I suppose some would call him 
quite handsome.” 

“ Ho you know where he lives ? ” 

“He says his house is a number of miles from 
here, in the woods, and that he and his father are 
hunters.” 

Walter thought of the house where Ralph and he 
had stopped for a drink of water. 

“ Of course, you did not notice what kind of a gun 
he had?” 

“Yes, as he was going home with me, he kept 
boasting of his exploits, and said he had the best 
rifle in the country. He made me look at it, and 
I thought that it was the handsomest gun I had ever 
seen.” 

“I suppose you haven’t discovered his name ? ” 

“Yes, it is Bill Jinks, he says,” answered Maud, 
with just the slightest appearance of archness in her 
tone and glance, as she noticed her companion’s ex- 
treme anxiety to obtain all the particulars. 

“ Is he older than lam?” 

“Oh! yes, he must be nineteen or twenty.” 


116 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


And you have never seen any of his folks ? ” 

“ No, and I do not care to. They must be queer 
people, I think.” 

“ Ralph and I,” said Walter, “ stopped at a house 
on our way for a drink of water. There was no one 
in at first, but presently a woman made her appear- 
ance from outdoors and ordered us off. Ralph told 
me by his signs that he thought a man and his son 
lived there.” 

“ Oh, I think it must be the very place ! You saw 
no one else ? ” 

“ No ; but I saw a very handsome rifle. It looked 
exactly like the one that was stolen from me by the 
robbers. There is a private mark on mine, but I 
couldn’t get a chance to examine this one, because 
the woman was so violent.” 

“ How strange if it should prove to be yours ! ” said 
Maud. “ Dear me ! since what has happened we can 
hardly be surprised at anything. It seems to me 
that this is a dreadful country ! ” 

“Yes, but I hope it will soon be made better,” 
replied Walter. “The villains will be arrested, and 
then ” 

He was interrupted by the sound of hoofs at a little 
distance. Both turned quickly, and saw a rider ap- 
proaching with the body of a deer slung across the 
back of his horse. 

On coming into view from behind a clump of trees 
which had hidden him, he was so near that the lines 
of his face could be distinctly made out. It was a 
youthful face, but with an expression of recklessness 
that made it repulsive. The fellow had a rifle slung 
to his saddle, and a pistol in the belt of his hunting- 
shirt. 

“It is Bill Jinks,” whispered Maud, shrinking 
closer to Walter, “ and I’m afraid he is bringing that 
deer as a present to buy his welcome here. He said 


THE BEJECTED VENISON. 


117 


something that makes me think so. Of course papa 
will not accept it, and then the fellow will owe him a 
grudge, and perhaps do him some injury.” 

They had commenced strolling towards the house, 
but the horseman presently overtook them, saluting 
Maud with awkward civility as he came up, but re- 
turning Walter’s glance with an impudent, inquisi- 
tive leer. 

The situation of things had aroused his jealousy, 
and it was plainly shown in the contemptuous expres- 
sion of his countenance as he seemed to measure his 
supposed rival from head to foot. 


CHAPTER XXn. 

THE REJECTED VENISON. 

Maud’s hope was vain that her rough admirer had 
not come for the purpose she feared. 

“I’ve brung along a deer fer yer folks,” he said, 
riding up close to her side, “ one I knocked over this 
afternoon, an’ I want ’em ter take him.” 

“I don’t think they would care to purchase a 
deer,” replied Maud. 

“Purchase! who said anything ’bout purchasin’? 
I’ve brung along a deer, an’ I want ’em ter take 
him.” 

“ You will have to talk with my father ; he is 
yonder.” 

“ The’ needn’t be no talkin’ ; I’ve brung him along 
a-purpus.” 

Maud made no answer. 

“ There’s some chaps as wouldn’t know how to 
knock over a buck ’f he was right up ter the muz- 
zle of their gun,” continued Bill Jinks, glancing 
at Walter, as if the remark were intended to hit him 
hard. 

Still there was no response. 


118 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“ ’Tain’t every cub that can do it,” be added. “ I 
could skeer some er these fine fellers ter death in the 
woods. Ever shot a deer, you chap ? ” 

“Yes,” was Walter’s reply. 

' “ Must er been by accident, then.” 

“Yonder is Mr. Mercer,” said Walter; “if you 
have business with him he will talk with you.” 

“What you got ter say ’bout it?” returned the 
fellow, insolently. “I can ’tend to my business.” 

“You had better do so, then,” said Walter. 

The young desperado glanced fiercely at him, but 
seeming to perceive the impolicy of any violent out- 
burst under the circumstances, he controlled his 
feelings in some degree. 

“Folks has got ter mind what they say ter Bill 
Jinks,” he growled, threateningly. “ If yer was ter 
stop round here long, you mought git chawed 
up ! ” 

Seeing Mr. Mercer near the house, he quickened 
his horse’s pace, as if to win the advantage of an- 
nouncing his mission to her father before Maud 
should arrive with an escort who had no deer to 
present. Perhaps his notions of courtship had been 
gained from Indian life, where the successful suitor 
is generally he who can show the choicest buffalo 
robes. 

“ He will not take a hint,” said Maud. “ A few 
days ago, he came to our house upon some pretense, 
while papa was out, and offered me a ring he had 
brought with him. He seemed to be offended because 
I would not accept it.”- 

“ Was it a valuable one ? ” asked Walter. 

“He called it so. I did not look at it, but he 
said it was a diamond ring and was worth a hundred 
dollars.” 

“ A diamond ring ! ” said Walter. “ Where should 
such a fellow get a diamond ring ? ” 


THE REJECTED VENISON. 


119 


“ Oh, his hands are covered with rings, though I 
don’t know how he gets them. Didn’t you notice 
them on his fingers just now ? ” 

“ Yes, I saw that he wore rings of some sort, but 
I noticed his big earrings most. He fixes himself up 
in great style. I have seen fellows in San Francisco, 
right from the mountains, wearing gold drops three 
or four inches long, when they had no shirt collar 
and looked as if they hadn’t combed their hair for a 
month ! ” 

“ I wonder they don’t hang jewels on their noses, 
too,” said Maud, “just as other savages do. It seems 
as if the more ferocious people are, the bigger ear- 
rings they want ! ” 

Bill Jinks went on toward the house, in front of 
which Mr. Mercer was standing, and our two young 
friends followed. He was evidently intending to 
present the slain deer as an offering that should se- 
cure perpetual amity between the houses of Jinks and 
Mercer. 

“ Howdy, Mr. Mercer ? ” he said, as he came up. 
“ Pooty fair sort of a evenin’.” 

Mr. Mercer nodded civilly. “ Yes,” he answered. 

“ I’ve brung along a buck here,” said Bill, “ that I 
shot special for yer this afternoon, an’ I want yer to 
take him.” 

“ I don’t wish to buy a deer at present,” replied Mr. 
Mercer. 

“I don’t ax nothin’ fer him,” said the bejeweled 
young man ; “ yer can take him an’ welcome.” 

“ No,” said Mr. Mercer, “ I shall not accept it. 
The other day, as I understand, you offered my 
daughter a ring. Had I been at home I should have 
talked very plainly to you. I warn you, not to re- 
peat such conduct, for I shall tolerate nothing of 
the kind. Please to remember this, and act accord- 


120 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“But IVe brung along this buck that I shot a- 
purpus,” persisted Bill, “ an’ it’s sort er hard that yer 
won’t take him ter ’bleege me.” 

“Young man,” said Mr Mercer, “I wish you 
could understand English. I tell you that I do not 
want your buck , and you have only to take it 
away.” 

“ Well, I’ve got a buck yere that I shot special and 
brung special, thinkin’ yer mought want him.” 

“ Haven’t I told you to go away with your buck ? ” 
said Mr. Mercer. “ I do not want it, and shall not 
take it. I have no desire for any further acquaintance 
with you.” 

“ Some folks gits the name er meanin’ bad,” said 
Bill, savagely, “ an’ I’m one on ’em, which I’m in- 
ner cent.” 

“Would you like to sell your rifle ? ” asked Walter, 
who had arrived on the spot with Maud, and was try- 
ing to get a good view of the gun. 

“ Me ? No, I shouldn’t,” replied Bill with a fe- 
rocious tone, “ not to no sich cub as you be ! Yer 
wouldn’t know how to shoot a bulldog ! ” 

“ If you cannot keep a civil tongue in your head,” 
said Mr. Mercer, “ the sooner you are moving the 
better. These premises are mine, and your presence 
here can be dispensed with.” 

The young ruffian put on so dark a look as he 
heard this, that Walter stepped close to him as he 
sat on his horse, and stood ready to grasp his arm 
should he attempt any violence. 

“ I’ve brung this yere buck,” said Bill, “ an’ now 
yer don’t want him, an’ won’t take him.” 

“ I don’t care what you’ve ‘ brung,’ ” exclaimed Mr. 
Mercer, “ I have told you that I wish you to leave the 
premises, and the sooner you do it the better I shall 
be pleased.” 

“ I could chaw up the whole on yer, in half a min- 


THE REJECTED VENISON. 


121 

ute ! ” cried Bill, making a threatening movement of 
his arm, as if to draw a weapon. 

Walter had moved to within two feet of his side, 
and was looking him squarely in the face, with both 
arms partially raised ready for a spring. But the 
fellow had intended nothing more than menace. He 
was evidently a coward, and those steadfast eyes, 
with the determined will behind them, completely 
overcame him. 

Maud, however, who stood at a little distance, was 
dreadfully frightened. 

“ Oh, papa ! ” she cried, “ Oh, Walter ! ” 

“ Hush ! ” said Mr. Mercer, “ there is nothing to 
fear.” 

“ I brung this yere buck,” commenced the cowed 
ruffian, whiningly, “ an’ now ” 

“Off with you this instant,” cried Mr. Mercer, 
“ you impudent young scamp ! ” 

“ An’ now yer don’t want him an’ won’t take him ! ” 
continued Bill, finishing out his sentence in spite of 
the interruption. 

Grasping the horse’s bridle, Walter turned him 
from the door, and that not with the utmost gentle- 
ness. “ Now be gone at once ! ” he said. “ You are 
an insolent scoundrel ! ” 

Bill seemed confounded by such decisive action, 
and made no further delay. He might have sus- 
pected his two antagonists to be armed, but it was 
chiefly Walter’s peremptory manner that put him 
down, for such a person has much the nature of the 
wolf, which somehow always shows a consciousness of 
inferiority when matched with the house dog. 

His malicious feelings, however, found vent, when 
he had reached what he may have considered a safe 
distance. Turning in his saddle, he shook his fist at 
the group behind him. 

“ I’ll chaw every one on yer up,” he cried, “ young 


122 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


gal an’ all ! an’ you, yer poor little stuck-up cub, 
special ! I’ll let yer know who Bill Jinks is ! ” 

“ This is all dreadful ! ” said Maud. 

“ No ; it is not dreadful,” said her father, “ it is 
simply disgusting.” 

“ I wish I could have examined his rifle,” remarked 
Walter. 

“ Why ? ” asked Mr. Mercer. 

“Because I think it is mine.” 

“ Think it is yours ! ” 

“Yes, sir; perhaps I am wrong, but I can’t help 
feeling that it is the one that was stolen from me 
when the robbers carried me off.” 

He then 'gave Mr. Mercer an account of his adven- 
ture at the house in the woods as he had related it 
to Maud. 

“ It is possible that you may be right,” said Mr. 
Mercer, “ and if so, it is an important discovery. We 
may find that this young desperado is really of some 
consequence to us.” 

“ That is what I am thinking,” said Walter. 

“ Still,” replmd Mr. Mercer, “ there are, no doubt, 
other guns that exactly resemble yours, and so, until 
you can see the private mark, there can be no cer- 
tainty.” 

Walter felt the truth of this, and he saw also that 
for the present his doubts could not be solved. 
When all things should be in readiness for a descent 
upon the robbers, the cabin in the woods might be 
searched, but he could not help wishing that he had 
something more than a mere surmise as the basis of 
action in that quarter. 

“ If it be as you think,” said Mr. Mercer, “ the ad- 
vantage to us may be incalculable.” 

“Yes, sir,” replied Walter, “and especially if we 
could know beforehand without having our knowl- 
edge suspected. Something might then turn up that 


A STROLL WITH MAUD. 123 

would help us very much, though, of course^ we can’t 
know what it would be.” 

“Well,” said Mr. Mercer, “we will see what the 
sheriff will propose, though the sheriff is the last man 
who should be seen near that house until the final 
swoop.” 

Poor little Maud was in great trouble, tossed be- 
tween fear and hope. The danger she thought dread- 
ful, while the chance of the restoration of her father’s 
wealth inspired hopes that quickened every pulse. 
To see her parents once more in the enjoyment of the 
property they had lost, and consequently free from 
the anxiety they now experienced, was her dearest 
wish ; though, of course, she thought also of herself, 
and was thrilled by the mere posssibility of the re- 
turn of her former advantages. 

In spite of Bill Jink’s episode, the evening, for 
Walter, proved one of the happiest he had ever 
known. He had never been much in the society of 
girls ; for the last two weeks he had lived in a cave ; 
and now, to come suddenly within the circle of Maud’s 
magnetism, was like plucking a sweet red rose in 
winter. 

He had never felt precisely so in the company of 
boys, and could hardly understand the subtle influ- 
ence that appeared so soothing. 


CHAPTER XXm. 

A STROLL WITH MAUD. 

In the morning Ralph came to inform them that 
the sheriff, being detained upon pressing business, 
would not make his appearance until evening ; that 
the necessary force could be obtained at short notice, 
and that probably a movement would be made upon 
the cave within two days. Meanwhile Walter must 
not show himself at the settlement. 


124 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“ I wonder,” said Mr. Mercer, what will be done 
about the Jinks establishment ? I suppose, however, 
that will depend much on what we have to say. We 
have no direct evidence against the family, but yet I 
think it would be a good plan to search the premises.” 

“ Yes, sir,” said Walter ; “ and, of course, after that 
there ought to be no delay. I am all the time afraid 
they will get wind of our intentions, and remove your 
gold to where we cannot find it.” 

“As to that,” replied Mr. Mercer, “I am afraid it is 
already where we shall not be able to find it. There 
are at least twelve of them, you say, and they may 
have declared dividends long before this, so as not to 
have a dollar of the treasure where it can be re- 
claimed.” 

“That is what I am afraid of,” said Walter ; “and 
yet I can’t help thinking that they must have some of 
it in the cave. It seems to me just as if we were 
going right into a gold mine ! ” 

“Well,” remarked Mr. Mercer, “a few days will 
probably decide the matter. At all events, I shall 
feel better to be in motion, trying to accomplish 
something, than to be sitting inactive, as I have now 
done for the last two months, simply from having not 
the least clew to the whereabouts of the gang. As to 
the authorities, they have only turned round and 
round in a blind way, because they have been unable 
to gain any definite information.” 

Ralph was as full of his motions as ever, and he 
could be brave or merry with them, just as a person 
can be with his voice. Maud, who had been ac- 
quainted with a deaf and dumb girl, could manage to 
talk with him quite well, and he was delighted to find 
that she enjoyed doing so. He rallied her upon the 
conquest she had lately made, branching his fingers 
above his forehead to indicate the buck with which 
she was to be purchased, and going through with 


A STROLL WITH MAUD. 


125 


various other details in a manner that brought laugh- 
ter and blushes at once into play, chasing each other 
over her fair young face. 

“Deaf and dumb people,” remarked Mr. Mercer, 
“are very quick to appreciate the notice taken of 
them. They are jealous and sensitive, and nothing 
delights them more than to discover that they are 
making themselves agreeable. It is very natural that 
this should be so.” 

It was necessary that Kalph should return to the 
settlement, and when he was gone, Walter and Maud 
amused themselves by strolling about the romantic 
woods and rocks in the neighborhood. 

“ Only think how short a time it is since we were 
riding in that stage,” said Walter, “ and you were 
telling the passengers what had happened to your 
father. It makes me feel as if I had been dreaming 
when I think of all that has taken place.” 

“ I should think it would ! ” replied Maud. “ How 
I wondered what those men would do to you, and 
whether you would ever get away from them.” 

“And I, too,” said Walter, “was thinking of you. 
I wondered how far you had to go, and what you said 
about me after you got home, and whether I should 
ever see you again ! ” 

“ Oh, I didn’t suppose you could be thinking of 
me ! ” 

“ I couldn’t very well have forgotten ! I remem- 
bered every word you said in the stage.” 

Maud blushed slightly. “ And did you expect to 
escape ? ” she asked. 

“ I meant to escape if possible ; but I thought that 
at the worst I should be liberated at last, and I kept 
thinking I would look for Maud Mercer the first 
thing!” 

“ Oh, you remembered my name, then ? ” 

“ Yes ; and when I told Mr. Percy what it was, he 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


126 

said Maud was one of the very best names in iue 
world.” 

“ Then you told him of me?” 

“Yes ; and he was very much interested in you.” 

“ How queer ! I wonder where he can have come 
from ? ” 

“ That he has never told me, and I have not liked 
to ask him.” 

“ He found you insensible in the torrent. Oh, how 
you must have dreaded to make that terrible leap ! I 
should have put my hands over my eyes if I had seen 
you ! ” 

Walter thought what beautiful eyes they were! 

“ Suppose you had been killed ! ” she added. 

“ But I did not mean to be killed ; I thought the 
thing could be done.” 

“ It would have been dreadful if the hermit had 
not found you as he did 1 I am so glad he was there ! ” 

As Maud said this, her pretty eyes expressed all 
the feeling of her words. 

In a deep little dell they discovered a bank of de- 
licious flowers, and while Maud was stooping to 
gather some of them, her hat was caught from her 
head by a spiteful branch, which also disarranged her 
hair. As she was putting her long locks in place, 
Walter took occasion to ornament them with the 
woodland blossoms, much to the merriment of his 
chaTming companion. 

“ If you like flowers,” she said, “ we shall always be 
friends, for I think them the most beautifnl of any- 
thing in the world ! I thought boys cared only for 
guns and skates and base-ball 1 ” 

“ Oh, they like flowers sometimes,” said Walter, as 
with a little heart flutter he readjusted one which 
had fallen a little out of place over the low, wide 
forehead — “ they like to see them in a girl’s hair ! ” 

“ You are a naughty boy ! ” 


A STEOLL WITH MAUD. 


127 


“Yes ; but well always be friends, you say.” 

“Oh, certainly! well always be friends, because 
you like flowers 1 ” 

“ Especially where they are now 1 ” said Walter, 
archly. 

“ You 1 ” And Maud blushed a deep, rosy red, 
laughing meanwhile with the guileless voice of a 
brook. 

When they returned to the house, it was time to 
prepare for dinner ; and the pretty forest nymph 
showed what a domestic and practical spirit can ex- 
ist in the fairest form. Mrs. Mercer was not permit- 
ted to tire herself with any details of the work, for 
Maud’s small, shapely hands were everywhere. 

“ I don’t know what we should do without her,” 
said her father, “ she thinks of everything, attends to 
everything ; and yet she has never had any experi- 
ence of the kind till lately.” 

“ She was always thoughtful, from a child,” said 
her mother, “and so I am not surprised that she 
does so well. Anything which would please her fa- 
ther and me she was always eager to do.” 

Of course, this almost involuntary praise she did 
not hear. The flowers were still in her hair as she 
did the honors of the table ; and there was a some- 
thing grateful to Walter’s feelings in this when he 
thought of what she had said about their being al- 
ways friends. 

It seemed as if the faint ray of hope which had 
just dawned upon the family, had inspired even Mrs. 
Mercer with new vigor in spite of the apprehensions 
she had of danger to her husband from any attempt 
upon the cave. She was now fast recovering from 
the effects of her illness, and our young lad felt that, 
when well, she, too, must be very pretty. He guessed 
that she must be about thirty-five, the age of his own 
mother j and, somehow, it seemed to him as if he had 


128 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


known some person of whom her general appearance 
reminded him, though he could not tell when or 
where. 


CHAPTER XXIY. 

A DOUBT SET AT REST. 

While strolling with Maud in the morning, Walter 
had noticed in the neighborhood some flocks of wood- 
duck, the drake of which is a very beautiful fowl, 
showing the finest blending of colors imaginable — 
red, green, black and buff — and late in the afternoon, 
he went out with his gun in the hope of procuring 
some of the male birds. 

He found the shy creatures, however, less plentiful 
than they had been earlier in the day, and so wan- 
dered farther than he intended to do. 

“ I must return soon,” he thought, “ for the sheriff 
and Ralph may come early, but then there is time 
enough yet. I will follow the line of low land to the 
next pond if it should not be too far, and perhaps I 
may get a shot at last. I want to show Maud what 
pretty birds they are.” 

He had some hope, too, that should the expected 
visitors come before sunset, he might see them on 
the road, as the range of ponds he was following lay 
near the highway, such as it was. 

Continuing his course somewhat further, he at 
length started a clump of the fowl, that went whir- 
ring up from a small pool, and had the satisfaction 
to see four of them drop at the discharge of his two 
barrels. Three of them were females and not re- 
markable for beauty, but the other was a superb 
drake, as handsome as a paroquet, though a ver}^ dif- 
ferent looking bird. 

How Maud will fall in love with these colors ! ” he 
thought. “ It has as many and as soft ones as the 


A DOUBT SET AT BEST. 129 

rainbow! Now I will get back as fast as possi- 
ble.” 

Once or twice since be had been out, he had heard 
the report of a gun at some distance. He soon struck 
the road, but had not proceeded far when his atten- 
tion was arrested by the sight of a huge eagle, which 
came leisurely sweeping in his direction. He quickly 
concealed himself, but the noble bird soon made a 
curve, passing on at too great a distance for a 
shot. 

Walter was about leaving his covert, when the 
crack of a rifle saluted his ear, and at the same mo- 
ment he saw the eagle flap its wings spasmodically 
up and down, while it came to a full stop in mid air. 
Then suddenly it plunged earthward, apparently 
stone dead, lodging in the topmost boughs of a dead 
tree. 

From his position our young friend could not see 
the person who had fired, but hurrying on, he soon 
found himself near the foot of the tree into which the 
eagle had fallen, and at the same time discovered a 
man with a gun in his hand, gazing up at the royal 
game as if perplexed as to how he should secure it. 
That man was Bill Jinks. 

Bill’s eyes were so intently fixed aloft that he did 
not see Walter, who thus had time to secure a good 
position from which to watch the hunter’s motions 
undiscovered. 

“I ken git yer,” said the young backwoodsman, 
still looking up, “ an’ I will git yer, or break my 
ornery neck ! Yer don’t fool Bill Jinks by droppin’ 
inter no treetops I ” 

Dead as the tree was, it had a vigorous grape vine 
clinging to its trunk, which rendered possible what 
would otherwise have been out of the question. 

“ It’s a tough one,” soliloquized Bill, as he prepared 
to climb, “ but I’ve brung him down so fur, an’ I 
5 


130 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


reckon I ken bring him down furder. I ain’t a goin’ 
ter leeve him up thar, by no means ! ” 

He laid his rifle on the ground at the foot of the 
tree and grasped the vine as a sailor does the shrouds 
of his ship. The attempt was not only very difficult, 
but very dangerous. At times he w^as completely 
hidden by the broad grape leaves, and Walter could 
hear the hard green grapes come rattling down the 
side of the tree as cluster after cluster was torn away 
by the struggling climber. Several times it seemed 
as if the effort would be abandoned ; for Bill would 
stop and cling where he was, as if out of breath. 

At length the lowest branch was reached, and here 
he took a long rest. Then laboriously he climbed up 
from limb to limb, the old decayed wood and bark 
dropping to the ground as he went. It was an im- 
mensely tall tree, and the eagle was still far above 
him. 

The branches were huge and wide apart, so that it 
was almost as difficult to climb up among them by 
reaching from one to another as it had been to get 
up the trunk. 

In the meantime, Walter was on tiptoe with ex- 
citement. By passing under one or two smaller trees 
there would be a chance of his arriving at the foot of 
the one on which Bill was, without being seen by 
him. He could perceive the rifle lying on the 
ground, but he wished to examine it without the 
knowledge of its possessor. 

“Now is my time,” he said at last ; “he is so far up 
that he will not be apt to notice me, but whether he 
does or not, I will be satisfied now.” 

He stole nimbly from his ambush, and was soon 
under the great tree. The pieces of loose bark con- 
tinued to fall, but he could hardly see Bill Jinks, the 
large limbs below him being so in the way. 

He fancied that the gun had a familiar feeling to 


A DOUBT SET AT REST. 


131 


his hand as he picked it up. What a superbly fin- 
ished rifle it was ! If his, the mark by which he 
would know it must be looked for very carefully ; for 
it was an extremely slight one, though no less posi- 
tive for that. 

In putting the weapon on the ground. Bill had 
soiled the guard with dirt at the very place where 
the examination was to be made, and Walter had to 
brush it with his handkerchief before inspecting it. 
Then he looked keenly at the spot, and smiled with a 
feeling of mingled relief and triumph. 

The tell-tale mark was there, as distinct as it was 
delicate ! 

He laid the rifle softly down and glanced up into 
the tree. He could hear the quills of the eagle rus- 
tle as Bill Jinks disengaged the wide-spread wings 
from the branches where they had been caught ; and 
as the young ruffian’s attention was thus wholly oc- 
cupied, it was easy to retreat undiscovered. 

Soon the dead bird was heard to strike the ground 
heavily ; and now Bill had only to get down as he 
could. He descended much faster than he had gone 
up, and reached the lowest branches before Walter 
had got far away from the spot. 

“ Now I am satisfied about the gun,” thought our 
young friend, “ and can go back with the suspense off 
my mind.” 

Bill presently swung himself under the last limb 
and again trusted to the grape vine. Walter, turn- 
ing for a final look, saw the maneuver and then con- 
tinued his course behind the intervening trees. 

He had gone, however, but a few yards when there 
was a sound in the direction of the descending hun- 
ter as if something had suddenly given way. It was 
followed by a rushing noise among the leaves and 
vines, ending in a startling thud, as some heavy body 
struck the earth. 


132 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


Instantly the boy turned and retraced his steps 
at a run, forgetting all but that instinct which bids 
us assist the distressed. 

Pausing a little as he approached, and peering in 
the direction of the dead tree, he saw Bill Jinks lying 
apparently insensible upon the ground, half hidden 
by the tangled vine he had brought down in his fall. 


CHAPTEE XXV. 

BILL JINKS AT A DISADVANTAGE. 

Walter approached the fallen man, who was evi- 
dently alive, although badly hurt. 

“ I can do nothing for him,” he thought, after a 
brief examination, “ except to go for assistance. 
Eobber or no robber, it will not answer to let him 
lie here. Yonder is his horse tied under a tree, but 
it would be impossible for me to lift such a dead 
weight high enough to put it on a horse’s back, so 
I’ll hurry and tell Mr. Mercer, and get him to help 
me.” 

He was about to take Bill’s horse for greater ex- 
pedition, when his attention was arrested by a 
clatter of hoofs in the road ; and running a few 
yards for a clear view, he saw two mounted men 
approaching, one of whom he discovered to be 
Ealph. 

It took but a moment to attract their notice and 
bring them to a halt, when Ealph, by his expressive 
gestures, signified that the person with him was the 
sheriff. Walter hurriedly related what had hap- 
pened, including the revelation of the rifle. 

“ Then the connection of this fellow with the rob- 
bers is not to be doubted,” said the officer. “We will 
look at him and see what is to be done.” 

Proceeding to the spot, they found the young man 
as Walter had left him, seeming to notice nothing. 


BILL JINKS AT A DISADVANTAGE. 133 

but still alive, and, as far as could be judged, witb no 
bones broken. 

“ Kalph must return for a doctor,” said the sheriff, 
“ and in the meantime we will lift the man upon his 
own horse, and take him to Mr. Mercer’s house, as 
that is only a short distance off, while there is no 
other for miles.” 

Kalph accordingly started for the doctor, while 
Walter and the officer attended to the wounded rob- 
ber. By the time Mr. Mercer’s home was reached. 
Bill had somewhat revived, but, to appearance, not 
sufficiently to realize what had happened. 

“ I think his head is injured,” remarked the sher- 
iff. “He was probably stunned at first, and per- 
haps may recover quite fast after a little time. Of 
course, he must be one of the robbers, but no one 
outside must know that we suspect anything of the 
kind. The discovery of the identity of your gun 
is very important, because now we shall know just 
how to deal with the man, and may entrap him into 
making some disclosures should he recover con- 
sciousness.” 

“ Do you think any of the family where he lives will 
come to look for him? ” asked Walter. 

“ No, not to-night, certainly ; and perhaps not to- 
morrow. No doubt he is in the habit of being out 
at all times of night and day, either as robber or 
hunter, and nothing strange will be thought of his 
absence.” 

A stimulant was administered, and Bill revived 
faster than could have been expected, though still 
somewhat lost in mind. 

“ Will you let him know who you are ? ” asked Wal- 
ter of the sheriff. 

“I have not decided yet just how to proceed,” was 
the answer. “ Perhaps I may find it best to do so — 
it will depend on his appearance. It could do no 


134 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


harm for him to discover what we know about the 
gang, for I mean to keep him close and to move upon 
the gang at once.” 

“ I am sorry to have the scoundrel here even for 
an hour ! ” said Mr. Mercer, “ but it can’t be helped, 
I suppose.” 

“No,” replied the sheriff, “it can’t be helped just 
now. To-morrow, when we go in search of the 
others, as I intend to do, I will either place men here 
to see that your family shall not be molested, or will 
pack him off to the jail.” 

“ Where be I, any way ? ” at length asked Bill, look- 
ing wildly around. 

“You are where you ought to have been long 
ago! ” replied tte sheriff, sternly. “You are a pris- 
oner in the hands of the law. And more than this, 
Heaven has begun to punish you for your crimes. 
You are sick unto death ! ” 

He uttered the last sentence in a fearfully sepul- 
chral voice. 

“ Death ! ” exclaimed Bill, “ I ain’t a go’n’ to die, 
be I?” 

“ I don’t know how you are going to help dying,’" 
said the sheriff. “ Are you prepared for this awful 
change ? We know all about what you have done, 
and the less you deny the better it will be for 
you.” 

“ Go’n’ to die 1 ” said Bill in a piteous tone ; “ go’n’ 
to die ! No, no 1 I can’t — I ain’t fit ! ” 

“ See if his feet are growing cold,” said the sheriff 
to Walter, making sure that Bill should overhear the 
direction. 

Walter went through the pretence of making an 
examination, and then, shaking his head with an aw- 
fully solemn countenance, he said: 

“ I’m afraid you are right, sir ; I suppose that is 
one of the last signs / ” 


BILL JINKS AT A DISADVANTAGE. I35 

The doleful voice was enough* to frighten one, to 
say nothing of the head-shaking. 

“ Oh,” cried Bill, “ I tell yer I ain’t ready ter die. 
Git suthin’ an’ put ter my feet ter keep ’em warm. 
What be I goin’ ter do ? Which I dunno how ter do 
anything ! ” 

“ You can repent of your sins,” said the sheriff ; 
“ you can do that. You can confess your bad deeds ; 
but you must do it very soon. We know all about 
your gang — all about the robberies they have com- 
mitted — all about the two caves among the moun- 
tains. How dared you to go hunting with a stolen 
gun — a gun that your folks got when they robbed a 
stage coach ? You see that it has all come out. 
What a load of crime is sinking you down to the 
grave ! ” 

The officer’s tones were truly awful as he said 
this. 

“ I didn’t steal the gun,” whined Bill ; “ I wan’t 
with ’em, which they went without me to rob that 
yere stage. Hinckley got the gun, an’ he jest lets me 
have it when I want it.” 

“Yes ; I understand,” said the sheriff; “you don’t 
go with ’em always. Is the. robber you live with 
named Hinckley ? ” 

“ Yes ; me and him had a row this mornin’ an’ I 
don’t keer what becomes on him ! ” 

Bill seemed to forget his critical condition for the 
moment, and spoke spitefully. 

“ Then how came he to let you have his rifle to- 
day ? ” asked the sheriff. 

“ He didn’t let me have it — I took it — ’cause he was 
gone away.” 

“ Is he gone now ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Where is he ? ” 

“ Oh, dear ! ” groaned Bill, “ this comes sudden ! 


136 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE, 


Hev I got ter pass in my chips right away ? Ain’t 
ther’ no chance fer a feller ? ” 

“You wouldn’t think there was much chance for 
you if you could see how you look,” said the sheriff. 
“Don’t you feel your face drawn out long? ” 

“Oh, dear! I ain’t fit ter go!” the poor ruffian 
moaned. “ I b’leeve my feet is cold — they’m a 
freezin ! ” 

“ Talk quick, then ! ” said the sheriff. “ Where’s 
Hinckley ? ” 

“ He’s ter the cave, a fixin’ up things with the fel- 
lers. They’m ter make a big haul ter-morrer night. 
Oh, hear ! my face is drawed down longer’n er mule’s, 
an’ my feet— — ” 

“Gro on — what sort of a haul? Your sands are 
running ! ” 

“ Ther’s a lot er gold cornin’ out er the mountains 
private. They don’t know which way the stage ’ll 
take, ’n they’m to watch for it in two places, six on 
’em in er place, so’s ter make sure.” 

“ So there are twelve of them in the whole ? ” said 
the sheriff. “ That’s the entire gang, is it ? ” 

“Yes; ’cept old Eli Stark.” 

“ And where’s he ? ” 

“I dunno.” 

“Were you to take any part in this?” 

“ Yes ; only I had a flare up with Hinckley this 
mornin’, an’ told him I wouldn’t go.” 

“ Why didn’t Hinckley take that rifle ? ” 

“ ’Cause Number One wants it — Number One’s Bill 
Stark — and Hinckley don’t want Bill ter know he’s 
got it.” 

“ Oh, a theft within a theft,” said the sheriff. “ They 
tell us there’s honor among thieves, but the rule don’t 
seem to hold always.” 

He then proceeded to ask the wounded robber a 
variety of other questions, and got from him a good 


BILL JINKS AT A DISADVANTAGE. 


137 


description of the two places where the stage was to 
be waited for. Bill knew tho region well, and so did 
his questioner, and the points indicated had certain 
prominent landmarks. 

Between his groans the fellow acknowledged that 
he had been with the gang olf and on for some 
months ; and he said that they seldom left any one at 
either of their dens when they went out upon an ex- 
pedition. They had much gold, he believed, con- 
cealed in the larger cavern, but the smaller cave was 
of little consequence. As to Mr. Mercer’s treasure, 
he knew nothing of that. 

Late in the evening, the doctor came, and upon 
making an examination, said that the patient had re- 
ceived a severe shock, but would soon recover from 
it. 

“ I will send a team for him in the morning,” said 
the sheriff, “ and have him taken to the jail, if it 
should be your ojhnion that he can be moved.” 

“ Oh, yes,” replied the doctor, “ he will be able by 
that time to ride well enough on a mattress, and Mr. 
Mercer probably does not wish to entertain a sick 
robber longer than he can help.” 

So it was settled that the sheriff should return to 
town by daybreak the next morning, dispatch the 
wagon for the patient, and then prepare everything 
for an expedition against the robbers — his plan being 
to surprise them if possible while they should be ly- 
ing in wait for the stage. 

One of the most important revelations of Bill Jinks 
was that of the passwords used by the gang, as it was 
hoped that the knowledge of these might be turned 
to account, especially as the robbers would be di- 
vided into two parties. 

‘‘ I hope,” said the sheriff, “ to deceive the despera- 
does in such a manner that each party of them shall 
take my company for the other. I am afraid there 


138 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


will be lives lost at the best, but this plan seems the 
most promising of any. Of course,” he added, “ we 
might take possession of the cave in their absence if 
we could find it ; but Walter would not be able to go 
directly to it, and we might spend so long a time in 
the search that the enemy would be likely to take 
alarm. I suppose that on leaving it vacant, they 
cover the entrance in such a way that a person stand- 
ing within arm’s length of it would have no suspicion 
of its existence. If our young friend here saw Bill 
Stark go in and leave the hole open, there were prob- 
ably others out whom he expected to follow him.” 

“ I suppose you will take me with you to-morrow,” 
said Walter. 

“No, my boy; I must positively refuse to do that. 
It will be no place for a boy of sixteen.” 

“ And can I be of no use to you ? ” asked Mr. Mer- 
cer. “ I have much at stake, and wish to take an ac- 
tive part in the matter.” 

“ No, sir,” returned the sheriff, “ you can be of no 
use at present. You must not go. Your health is 
not good, and I want the most hardy men I can get. 
My force will be sufficiently large, so that there will 
not be the least need of you.” 

Mrs. Mercer and Maud looked exceedingly relieved. 
Mr. Mercer himself saw the rationality of the deci- 
sion, and acquiesced in it ; but Walter, who had all 
along looked forward to this climax as a scene where- 
in he was to take an active part, felt disappointed. 

“ You will have chance enough for action,” said the 
sheriff, “ when we come to examine the cave.” 

“ Yes,” added Mr. Mercer, “ we owe the advantages 
which we now have, solely to what has been discov- 
ered through your means. Let this satisfy for the 
present, Walter, for you will probably have enough 
to do by-and-by.” 

Upon the sheriff’s return to town, the wagon he 


AN EVENING CALLEK. 


139 


had promised was sent out, and Bill Jinks was re- 
moved to the jail, though no hint was dropped that 
he had made any revelation. 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

AN EVENING CALLER. 

“ What a hurry I am in to have it all over with ! ” 
said Walter ; “I am so much afraid that something 
will go wrong ! ” 

“ But your going with the sheriff and his posse 
could not have done any good,” replied Mr. Mer- 
cer. 

“ Oh, no, sir ; but I am in a hurry to know what 
their den contains. I am afraid old Eli Stark may 
get wind of the movement and take some means to 
secure the treasure.” 

“ So am I,” said Mr. Mercer, “ but I am still more 
afraid that the attempt to capture them will fall 
through. It will require great shrewdness, great de- 
termination, and great good luck.” 

“ But I like the sheriff’s plan,” said Walter. “ His 
party will be masked just like the robbers, and so 
each division of the gang may be deceived.” 

“ The fact that they will be divided,” remarked Mr. 
Mercer, “ is a very favorable circumstance ; but even 
with this advantage, it seems to me that it must be 
almost impossible to capture them without blood- 
shed. Such a result would be really and truly mar- 
velous ! ” 

“ How glad I am that neither of you is to go ! ” said 
Mrs. Mercer. 

“ It would be dreadful ! ” said Maud, with a shud- 
der. “ I would rather they should not be arrested 
than to have papa get into such danger — or — or Wal- 
ter either — or any one ! ” 

“I like adventure,” observed Walter, “and so 


140 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


would have been glad to go ; but I am willing to do 
what is for the best.” 

“ You have the right kind of courage,” replied Mr. 
Mercer. “ You have the courage which can dare to 
remain out of the combat when necessary. If Mar- 
mion had left the Lady Clare in your charge at Flod- 
den, you would not have pitched into the battle as 
Blount and Fitz Eustace did. Your kind of courage 
is superior to theirs. Perhaps you may recollect Mil- 
ton’s line — 

‘ They also serve who only stand and wait.’ ” 

“Yes,” said Walter, “I remember it ; but I think 
waiting is the hardest of anything. I didn’t care 
about showing my courage, but I wanted to help. 
When the robbers took me prisoner, I told them what 
to expect. I meant to do all I possibly could to 
bring them to j ustice, and I was in hopes of recover- 
ing your gold. I don’t care about the credit of it ; I 
wish it to be done — that is all — and then I shall be 
satisfied.” 

“ Whether this attempt of the sheriff shall be suc- 
cessful or not,” replied Mr. Mercer, “ a dash must be 
made upon the cave forthwith. As Eli Stark will 
still be at large, it will be very important to get 
ahead of him and secure whatever treasure the place 
may contain.” 

“ I wonder if he will get any knowledge of this 
expedition against the gang ! ” said Walter, an- 
xiously. 

“Just as likely as not he will, for nobody knows 
where he may be,” replied Mr. Mercer. 

“ But if he shouldn’t get it in time to give them 
notice ” 

“ Oh, in that case, his aims would be only to secure 
the treasure and make his escape with as much of it 
as possible/’ 


AK EVENING CALLEE. 


141 


A.S the place where the robbers were to lie in wait 
for tlie stage was nearly twenty miles off, it would be 
necessary for the sheriff and his cavalcade to start 
before dark. The day was passed in great suspense 
at the Mercer household. 

“I wonder if they have set out yet?” said Walter, 
as it grew towards night. 

“Very likely they have,” replied Mr. Mercer, “and 
now I shall be anxious till I hear from them. To- 
morrow morning we shall know the result.” 

“ I hope Bill Jinks will be able to go with us to the 
cave,” Walter remarked, “ but even if he should know 
where the treasure is hidden, I don’t believe he would 
tell.” 

“ No, probably he would not ; but I do not believe 
he can know. He is little more than a boy — a mere 
apprentice in crime — and would not be trusted with 
such a secret.” 

“I think, though,” said Walter, “he is an appren- 
tice that promises well for his masters, except that he 
don’t know much.” 

“ He is as ignorant as a mule,” said Mr. Mercer, 
“ and, I think, naturally malicious. Probably no re- 
liance can be placed on his word, but he may, never- 
theless, be of some use to us.” 

“ It makes me nervous,” said Walter, “ to think the 
sheriff may fail, and the robbers may make their es- 
cape.” 

“ Yes, I know — but then they would be chased up 
without loss of time. This would be all impor- 
tant.” 

“ But I am afraid that old Eli Stark will never be 
found,” remarked our young friend, dubiously, “ and 
he is the very one of all others that Mr. Percy wishes 
the law to get hold of.” 

“There is occasion for great anxiety,” said Mr. 
Mercer. “ I do hope that everything will work well. 


142 


THE MOUNTAIN CATE. 


Personally I, perhaps, have more at stake than any 
one else.” 

“It is the thought of your gold,” said T^'alter, 
“ that makes me uneasy — there is so much between 
us and that ! I believe suspense is the hardest of all 
things to bear. I feel just as if I would like to fly 
like a bird and find out all about it at once.” 

“Well, we will go the station very early in the 
morning,” replied Mr. Mercer, “ and see how matters 
stand. There will be no further necessity for you to 
keep in the background, probably, as of course after 
this stir everything will come out.” 

“ The night will seem very long to me,” said Wal- 
ter, “ but I suppose -there is no possibility of hurry- 
ing things.” 

As it grew late in the evening, the tramp of a horse 
was heard near the house, and Mr. Mercer, on the 
alert for news, hastened to the door. The rider, how- 
ever, was only a stranger, in want of a drink of wa- 
ter. As he came to the door, he w^as seen to be ap- 
parently a youngish man with black whiskers and 
mustache. 

Catching sight of Walter within, he seemed to 
start as if surprised, and even while drinking, con- 
tinued to glance toward him keenly. 

“ Thank you kindly for the draught,” he said to 
Mr. Mercer, and then turning his horse, rode away 
after a few more remarks. 

“ That stranger has a something in his appearance 
that I do not like,” observed Mr. Mercer, as he came 
in and shut the door. 

“Nor I either,” said Walter. “I didn’t see much 
of him, but I don’t like his voice. I wonder who he 
can be ? ” 

“Repaid you a compliment,” said Mr. Mercer; 
“ said you were a fine-looking young man, and 
wanted to know if you were my son. Then he asked 


AN INFIBM Wia. 143 

your name, but I answered merely that you were a 
friend of ours.” 

“ I don’t know what gave me such a feeling,” said 
Walter^, “ when I heard his voice, but somehow it 
made me detest him ! ” 

“ I hope he isn’t a robber ! ” said Maud. 

“He isn’t any of those whom I have seen un- 
masked,” rejoined Walter, “but lately I have learned 
to suspect almost all strangers.” 

“ And so have I,” said the young girl excitedly, 
“ ever since I met that wretched old man in the stage ! 
I should know this one again by his black mustache 
and his fierce looks, and should be afraid of him, 
too ! ” 

“ Oh, we must not take all strangers for robbers,” 
said Mr. Mercer, “ though I do not think that bad 
people tell us what they are the moment they come 
near us.” 

“ But, papa, that wicked old man didn’t ! ” 

“ No, he didn’t tell you, I admit ; but perhaps he 
would have told a more experienced person.” 


CHAPTER XXVn. 

AN INFIRM WIG. 

Great was the stir which Mr. Mercer and his young 
guest encountered next morning when they made 
their appearance at the settlement. The sheriff met 
them with a smile of intense satisfaction. 

“ Everything has worked to a charm ! ” he said. 
“I can hardly realize my good luck; it was one 
chance in a thousand ! I was afraid the thing would 
go wrong, but it was the best plan I could devise, 
and it has succeeded beyond my expectation.” 

“ How many of them have you got ? ” asked Mr. 
Mercer, while Walter was on tiptoe with eagerness. 


144 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“ The whole twelve ! Every one ! Not a soul got 
away ! ” 

“Was any of your men hurt?” Walter inquired. 

“ Yes, a few of them were wounded, but not mor- 
tally. We deceived the fellows just as I had planned 
— six at a time — and, sprang upon them before they 
had time to do much shooting.” 

“But there must have been a severe struggle,” 
said Mr. Mercer. 

“Yes ; there was something of a struggle. We ap- 
proached the first party, pretending to be their com- 
rades — we were masked and had their passwords. 
They began to inquire what we had discovered, and 
why we had left our hiding place, when all at once 
the only six of us who were in sight rushed upon 
them, while the rest of my men, who were close in the 
rear of the robbers, sprang forward to our assistance. 
The other party was secured in the same manner.” 

“And so you have lodged them in jail?” 

“Yes, just locked them up ; and I’m half afraid the 
people will try to lynch them.” 

In his joy at the result, it hardly occurred to Wal- 
ter that he himself had been the chief instrument in 
bringing the villainous gang within the meshes of 
the law. Much as he had previously discovered, it 
was solely the recovery of his rifle from Bill Jinks 
and the consequent confession of that young outlaw, 
which led to the immediate capture of the robbers. 
But all the knowledge of them which he had other- 
wise obtained, could now be utilized at once. Since 
the day when Maud Mercer told her sorrowful story 
in the stage-coach, he had made the apprehension of 
the desperadoes, and the recovery of the one hundred 
thousand dollars, his prime motives of action ; and 
now the first of these objects, joined with so fair a 
prospect of attaining the second, filled him with a tu- 
mult of excitement. 


AN INFIRM WIG. 


145 


Oh, Mr. Mercer,” he cried, “ I do believe you will 
get it! We must go right away to the cave! Old 
Eli Stark is out somewhere, and, of course, he will 
get wind of what has happened. We ought not to 
give him any time.” 

“ You are right,” said the sheriff, “ every hour is 
precious to us, and I shall start for the place to-day. 
I am told that Bill Jinks can’t leave his mattress, so 
we shall have no help from him. Ralph knows the 
way to the mountain, but I shall have to depend upon 
you for the rest. Do you think you could go straight 
to the cave ? ” 

“I think I could .soon find it,” said Walter, “if 
Ralph should find the mountain. I would take the 
course I took before, for I know what course that 
was.” 

“ All right ; we’ll put you down there,” was the en- 
thusiastic reply. 

As to Mr. Mercer, his conflicting feelings of hope 
and apprehension almost overpowered him. But 
Walter felt only a grim determination to succeed, 
joined with a firm faith in his ability to trace again 
the course over which he had followed the two hun- 
ters. In his brain there were confused visions of 
courts of justice, and piles of gold ; and he was burn- 
ing with impatience to be again on the spot where 
he had seen Bill Stark shoot the puma. 

“ Hello ! ” exclaimed the sheriff, as a man on horse- 
back came dashing up to him with eager haste, 
“ what’s up ? Anything broke loose ? ” 

“Yes,” said the messenger, “we have just heard 
that a stranger who was seen about here this morn- 
ing has been discovered to be a suspicious character. 
He had a black mustache and black whiskers, and 
looked like a young man. But a boy has just given 
the information that a mile or two out of town he 
saw this man going off at full gallop. He says that 


146 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


the fellow’s hat blew off into a thicket, and that in 
going into the bushes to get it he had his mustache 
turned away round to the side of his face, and lost off 
a wig that he wore, so that his head was left bald. 
He looked then like a man fifty years old. When he 
saw the boy close to him, he jumped on his horse and 
made off again.” 

“ How long ago was this ? ” demanded the sheriff. 

“An hour, perhaps.” 

“ Then we can’t catch him, whoever he may be ; he 
has too long a start.” 

“ He must be the very man who stopped at my 
house last evening ! ” exclaimed Mr. Mercer. 

“Yes,” said Walter, eagerly; “and that man was 
old Eli Stark ! Oh, how sorry I am that he has made 
his escape ! ” 


CHAPTEK XXVm. 

FOLLOWING THE FUGITIVE. 

“ You are sure that he is old Eli ? ” said the sher- 
iff. 

“Yes, I am quite sure,” replied Walter, “ it was Eli 
Stark’s voice that I heard last evening. I didn’t 
recognize it then, but it was a voice that gave me a 
disagreeable impression, and now I know that it was 
exactly like his.” 

“ Then we must lose no time in following him,” 
was the reply. “ Of course, he will reach the den in 
advance of us, but he must be allowed as small an 
opportunity as possible to make his arrangements. I 
have not slept since night before last, and am tired 
almost to death, but that makes no difference, I shall 
start at once.” 

“ There will be no time for me to see my family be- 
fore setting out, I suppose,” said Mr. Mercer. 

“No ; you can send them word how it is with us. 


FOLLOWING THE FUGITIVE. I47 

and if you think it necessary, they can have company 
to protect them till your return.” 

“ They will be lonesome and timid,” said Mr. Mer- 
cer, “ for my wife is not well, and my daughter is 
very young. The thought of what has occurred will 
make them nervous, especially as they are not used 
to staying alone at night.” 

“ I will send out my two boys,” said the sheriff, 
“the lads will be company for them at least.” 

“ Thank you,” said Mr. Mercer, “ I shall be greatly 
obliged.” 

This matter arranged, he felt easier, and Walter, 
too, was glad that Maud would have company — glad 
also that the two lads, aged respectively sixteen and 
eighteen, were not remarkably handsome. 

Fresh horses were procured, and the party, num- 
bering fifteen, set out for the wild interior. The 
sheriff said it would expedite matters if they were to 
discover on the way the smaller cave to which Walter 
had been conveyed on the night of his capture ; but 
this there seemed little hope of doing without too 
great a loss of time. While our young adventurer, 
however, was raking his brains in the effort to recall 
the landmarks he had noticed at the time of his es- 
cape, the prints of a horse’s hoofs were discovered 
crossing the tracks of the party, and looking off in 
the direction in which they led, the lad fancied that 
the very path he had taken in his flight. 

“ I am sure it must be yonder,” he said, “ and not 
far off. Old Eli has taken it in his course, per- 
haps.” 

“ Yes,” said the sheriff, “ these are the tracks of his 
horse, without doubt, and we can loose nothing by 
following them. He may possibly be at the place.” 

The tracks were soon lost, from the nature of the 
ground, but presently a spot was discovered where a 
horse had been tied to a sapling, and close by was a 


148 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


singular pile of rocks which Walter saw with a thrill 
of exultation. 

“ This is the place ! ” he cried, “ I ran out from be- 
tween those rocks at the time I got away from the 
robbers’ cave ! ” 

Hurriedly the explorers went climbing the difficult 
path till they entered the den itself. It was soon ex- 
amined in all its windings, but nothing of value was 
discovered. 

“They would not have hidden their spoils in a 
place like this,” the sheriff remarked. “ Old Eli has 
simply made a flying call here and gone on again. 
But I am glad we stopped at the place, for now this 
will be off my mind. We have only the other cavern 
to attend to ; there is where the gold is.” 

By the time the party was again fairly under way 
it was past sunset, so that all that could be done was 
to reach the mountain side not far from where W^alter 
had fallen in with the two robbers, and there encamp 
for the night. Both men and horses were extremely 
tired, and besides it would have been useless to at- 
tempt the tracing of such a labyrinth in the dark. 

Kalph had thus far pointed out the general course, 
but from this moment all must depend upon Walter, 
the only person of the company who had ever seen 
the mouth of the cave. He felt the responsibility 
thus devolved upon him, and could not help fearing 
that he would not be able to go directly to the spot 
even by daylight, it was so singularly protected by 
rock and chasm and thicket. 

With the dawn of day the exciting search was en- 
tered upon. Walter led the way, looking all the 
while for the spot where he had lain in ambush and 
seen Bill Stark kill the mountain lion. Knowing 
what was expected from him, he had a nervous dread 
of blundering, and thought how mortified he would 
be should he actually get lost as he had done when 


FOLLOWING THE FUGITIVE. 


149 


last near this spot. Then, however, it was night, 
while now it was day. 

At length, just by his horse’s feet, he discovered 
the skeleton of an animal newly picked by the wolves ; 
and looking a little above the place, he recognized 
the small rock and bush which had concealed him on 
the night when the puma mewed close to his hiding 
place, and when the report of Bill Stark’s gun startled 
him by its nearness. 

It was a happy discovery, for he felt that now he 
would know how to proceed. He led the party along 
the intricate way, by which he had followed the rob- 
ber less than a week before ; but there were so many 
divergencies that he was sorely perplexed. Things 
do not look in the daytime as they do at night. It 
soon became necessary to dismount, and the men, 
fastening their horses to the bushes, groped their 
way about the strange, wild place, looking every- 
where for the doorway which would let them into the 
mountain. 

But the exact spot was more difficult to find than 
any one had anticipated ; and Walter felt his per- 
plexity increased by a consciousness of the impa- 
tience of his companions, and the thought of what 
they hoped from him as a guide. 

“ You are sure this is the place ? ” said the sheriff. 

“Yes, sir, quite sure. Here is where I followed 
Bill Stark, and the mouth of the cave cannot be a 
dozen rods from where we stand.” 

All the rocks, chasms and trees, however, were so 
supplemented by others that it was impossible to re- 
member which way the robber had turned from any 
given point. Some of the party squeezed themselves 
into fissures, some climbed tall cliffs, and some crept 
under fallen treetops. Some kept on much farther 
than necessary, and then retraced their steps. 

Walter felt exceedingly nervous. Was he to be 


150 


"THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


foiled at last ? What would the sheriff say ? What 
would the men think of him ? Again he stopped and 
cast his eyes sharply about. A sudden thrill of joy 
shot through him. He sprang forward a few steps ; 
there could be no mistake. 

“ Mr. McGregor ! ” he called to the sheriff. 

“ Ah ! what is it ? ” 

“ Come here a moment if you please.” 

The sheriff was instantly at the boy’s side. 

“ See anything that looks like it ? ” was the officer’s 
hurried question. 

“ Yes, sir ; I see the entrance itself. Can you see 
it?” 

Mr. McGregor turned his head in all directions. 

‘‘No,” he said, “I can’t say I do.” 

Walter stepped along a few yards, and then indi- 
cated a certain spot from before which he removed a 
dead branch or two. 

“ What would you call this ? ” he asked, pointing 
to an opening in the rock which came into view as he 
moved the branches. 

“Walter ! you’re a trump! ” cried the sheriff. “I 
do believe you’ve found it ! ” 

“ This is the place,” said Walter, “ where Bill Stark 
went into the mountain. Here is where I first saw 
the light of his lantern. You see a man can hardly 
squeeze through, and everything around it is calcu- 
lated to hide the hole.” 

“ No wonder it perplexed you, my boy,” was the 
reply. “ You have done nobly to find it at all ! Now 
for the lanterns, and next we’ll see how the place 
looks inside.” 

The whole company gathered about the spot ; the 
lanterns were lighted, and then one by one the party 
entered the narrow opening, the sheriff leading the 
way. 

Mr. Mercer was tremulous with excitement as he 


DISAPPOINTMENT. 


151 


thought how much might be decided within an hour. 
Was he to return to his little family a rich man or a 
beggar ? 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

DISAPPOINTMENT. 

In the darkness of the cave old Eli Stark might be 
hidden, and probably no one of the explorers took a 
step without thinking of him. Not that he would be 
very dangerous in the face of such a force, but then 
the idea of rousing a human monster in the bowels 
of the earth has in it something startling. 

“ First of all,” said the sheriff, “ I wish to settle the 
question as to whether the gang made their head- 
quarters here or not. If they did, we shall find beds, 
stools, tables, and other things that they must have 
had. We will find where they have eaten and slept, 
if we can, and thence take our ‘ departure,’ as a sailor 
would say, in quest of the treasure.” 

The formation of the cavern appeared very favor- 
able to the purpose of the searchers, for the floor was 
level, and the walls, so far as could be discovered, 
were smooth. 

At length a place was arrived at which the robbers 
had evidently used as their especial house and home. 
Here were made beds of gathered leaves, over which 
were spread the skins of various wild animals, recall- 
ing to Walter the thought of what he had seen in the 
hermit’s cave; and there were, besides, a roughly 
hewn table and a dozen clumsy stools. Eatables and 
drinkables were discovered in abundance. 

“ The scamps lived well,” said the sheriff ; “ look at 
this smoked venison, this flour and corn meal ; and 
above all, at these bottles of choice liquor. Here is 
a quantity of coffee and tea ; here are some sweet po- 


152 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


tatoes ; and here are rice and raisins. Oh, but they 
had no intention of starving ! ” 

But now arose the great question of the treasure. 
Mr. Mercer’s hopes fell as he saw nothing like 
“wjedges of gold,” nor anything likely to contain 
such. 

There were several lanterns found, and these were 
now lighted in addition to those that the party al- 
ready had. The effect was to make the cavern for a 
considerable space around as light as day ; but be- 
yond was utter darkness. 

“As we move about, every man with a lantern,” 
said the sheriff, “ we shall, of course, carry the light 
with us, but we shall at the same time be blinded 
to everything at a few yards distance.” 

“H5w would it do,” asked Walter, “to explore the 
sides first, and find how large the cave is before 
searching for the treasure ? ” 

“ That is what I will do,” said the sheriff, “ then 
we shall have some correct idea of the place. . It is 
just possible that old Eli Stark may be hidden in 
some part of the cavern ; but I don’t believe it. I 
think he would not have risked such a thing ; he 
would have been- more likely to take what treasure 
he could carry and decamp to some other hiding 
place.” 

Walter’s heart sank ; he had feared this. And 
must he go back to Maud Mercer with the sad intelli- 
gence that her poverty was a thing assured ? that all 
he had done, however it might assist justice, could 
not assist her ? 

The party was divided, and while one half of it 
went carefully groping to the right the other wing 
turned to the left. Here and there the walls were ir- 
regular and broken, and in some places deep, gloomy 
aisles led off at right angles to the main cavern ; but 
all these were found to be only of small extent, and 


DISAPPOINTMENT. 


153 


the lanterns so lighted them up that it seemed as if 
nothing they contained could possibly remain undis- 
covered. 

At length the divisions of the explorers met, hav- 
ing traversed the entire circumference of the cave. 
Neither party had anything encouraging to say to 
the other. The place, for a large cavern, was unusu- 
ally free from difficulties, and easy to be explored. 
All the walls had been viewed in the strong glare of 
the lanterns, all the intricacies explored. It re- 
mained only to look carefully over the body of the 
underground room, crossing and recrossing the wide 
chamber, to make sure that the stone floor should be 
thoroughly examined. This was done, but with an 
utterly barren result. 

Then the flfteen persons, separating, continued the 
search each on his own account ; and the sight of 
fifteen lanterns, scattered here and there in the other- 
wise pitchy darkness, and moving about like phos- 
phorescent substances that sometimes float above a 
deep swamp in the evening, had a strange and weird 
effect. 

Yet only disappointment was the result. If old 
Eli Stark had visited the cave since his flight from 
the settlement, he must have removed everything of 
value, provided any such thing had been there. But 
it began to look as if this had never been a reposi- 
tory of treasure. 

‘‘ There is, certainly, no other chamber connected 
with this,” said the sheriff, “ except such nooks as we 
have explored; and there seems to be no place in any 
of the walls where a large amount of specie could be 
stowed. They are solid and smooth, with the excep- 
tion of a few small crevices hardly wide enough for 
a bat to hide himself in. The robbers made this 
their home, there can be no doubt of that ; but their 
booty is quite another matter ; they may never have 


154 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


brought any of it into the place. At all events, if it 
was ever secreted here, it has been taken away, and, 
probably, by that old fellow who got the start of us 
yesterday.” 

Walter glanced toward Mr. Mercer, and could not 
help pitying him, as his pale face showed the reaction 
of that hope he had so lately indulged — a hope much 
stronger than its possessor had dared to admit, even 
to himself. It was now by no means probable that 
any portion of the lost property was to be recovered 
at present, and as to future chances, the thought of 
them was little better than despair. 

All manner of questions presented themselves to 
the foiled searchers. Might not the gold have been 
hidden under some of the huge rocks outside? 
Might not one of the walls of the cave be simply a 
natural partition between this and some other cavern 
whose entrance was somewhere in the mountain 
side ? 

How far did the few little crevices reach ? Walter 
put his hand into one of them, but it would not ad- 
mit his arm. He held up his lantern and peered in. 
The rent, narrow as it was, appeared to be very deep. 
He could not help imagining another chamber be- 
yond ; and if there were one, how awfully solemn it 
must be, he thought. But the sheriff would have 
laughed at his quaint fancy of another room behind 
that solemn wall, and he himself dismissed it as an 
idle whim. 

Over and over again, the same walls were examined, 
the same dark caverns explored. Towards night 
some of the party went pushing about among the 
outside rocks and thickets, in the hope that the en- 
trance to some other den might be discovered ; but 
it was now so late that not much could be done in 
this way. It was seen that the place had so many 
queer rocks, so much tangled brushwood, and so 


DISAPPOINTMENT. 155 

many uprooted trees, that a thorough investigation 
would be very tedious. 

“ We will remain here until to-morrow,” said the 
sheriff, “ then spread out and look along the moun- 
tain side and in the deep gulches below. I shall 
want you, AValter, to pilot me to the cave of your old 
friend the hermit. Perhaps he will not care to have 
me visit him, but I can’t help that. I would like to 
know whether he has discovered anything since your 
absence, or if he can suggest any course of action 
which I have not thought of yet.” 

He knew, from our young friend’s description, how 
sensitive Mr. Percy was upon the subject of visitors ; 
but duty was duty, and he was not without his curi- 
osity besides. 

“I should be glad to see him,” said Walter, “and 
tell him what has taken place. I’ll go to his cave to- 
night, if you have no objection. Probably Kalph 
would like to go too, and between us I think we could 
find the way without much difficulty. Ralph knows 
these mountains and forests wonderfully well, and I 
can easily tell him where it is that we want him to 
guide us.” 

“ It would be well enough to do so,” said the sher- 
iff. “ Go and tell him we have got all the robbers 
but the old man, but can’t find a bit of treasure. 
Upon second thought,” he added, “ I think I will go 
too. I suppose a couple of hours’ travel will take us 
there — or less, if we are to ride.” 

“I guess the horses would be an encumbrance,” 
said Walter. “ On foot we shall be able to make 
short cuts, and I don’t think it can take us very long, 
though I’m not quite sure of the distance.” 

He found Ralph willing to start at once, and with- 
out more ado the three set out upon the tramp, ar- 
riving at their destination before it had grown very 
late. 


156 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


CHAPTEE XXX. 

A STRANGE INTRUSION. 

Mr. Percy had been ill, and so obliged to remain 
inactive, but he was now better. His pleasure at the 
return of his young guest was heartfelt. 

“ You cannot think how much I have missed you,” 
he said. “ Indeed, I have been led to doubt whether 
I really make a good hermit after all ! ” 

He welcomed Kalph with the old, expressive ges- 
tures, and the sheriff with grave courtesy. 

“ You may be a little surprised at my visit,” said 
the officer of the law, “ but circumstances render it 
necessary. I did not know but you might in some 
way assist me. I have had the good luck to get my 
clutches on all the robbers except one, and he, I 
think, has fled to this mountain.” 

He then gave a detailed account of what had hap- 
pened, to which the hermit listened with intense in- 
terest, expressing great satisfaction at the successful 
swoop upon the gang, and admiration of the manner 
in which it was accomplished. 

The escape of Eli Stark, however, vexed him 
thoroughly. 

“ It is too bad,” he said, “ and yet it is in the nat- 
ural course of things. I have thought that if any 
one should escape it would be he ; though, in fact, I 
had no hope of so prompt an arrest of the others.” 

“ W ould Eli be apt to remain about the moun- 
tain ? ” aked the sheriff. 

“ Yes, provided the gold is here.” 

“You think he would not be likely to separate 
himself from that ? ” 

“ No, he would not. Where the gold is, there is 
he.” 


A STEANGE INTEUSION. 


157 


“The old villain!” interjected Walter; “just to 
think how he came right Avhere I was without my 
knowing him 1 ” 

“ So you think, Mr. Percy,” remarked the sheriff, 
“ that if we were to find the treasure we would find 
him ? ” 

“ I do. He could not have carried off so large an 
amount of gold as it is probable the robbers have se- 
creted ; and, besides, you have followed him so 
closely as to leave him little time to make arrange- 
ments for escape. He would sooner run a great risk 
of being caught than go off and leave the gold. I 
know him well enough to venture that opinion.” 

“ Walter has told me,” ventured the officer, “ that 
he believes you formerly had some knowledge of 
him.” 

“ Yes.” 

“ And that you have been a sufferer from his vil- 
lainy.” 

“ Yes ; but I would choose not to speak of it at 
present. I am thinking only of the possibility of his 
capture.” 

“ But where can he be ? ” 

“ Somewhere under the mountain.” 

“We have explored the cave thoroughly.” 

“ Oh, no doubt of it ; but then there may be other 
caves. I have been here for years, and yet there is 
much for me to learn about my surroundings. Prob- 
ably a great many strange tunnels were left when 
the Sierras bubbled up into their present shape from 
the fires beneath.” 

“ The cave that we have been examining to-day,” 
remarked Walter, “has crevices in its walls that seem 
to run very deep. I could not help imagining an- 
other cavern beyond ; but I suppose that Avas a mere 
fancy.” 

“ Oh^ the wall is solid enough,” put in the sheriff. 


158 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“it hasn’t a loose stone. You know we examined 
every foot of it.” 

“And yet Walter may be in the right about an 
adjoining cavern,” replied Mr. Percy. “I am pre- 
pared to believe almost anything in that direc- 
tion.” 

“And you think,” said Walter, “that the mountain 
ranges were thrown up by fires in the earth ? ” 

“Undoubtedly. There was once a time when the 
earth’s material was red hot. It boiled and bubbled 
like molten iron, gradually cooling and hardening. 
Probably all mountains were once volcanic. Yes, 
even the most insignificant hill was thrown up in the 
same manner as Coatzacoalcos or Chimborazo, sput- 
tering and smoking long after ’the valley about it had 
been reduced to quiet.” 

“ And then the caves,” said our young friend, “ were 
formed, you believe, just as vacuums sometimes are 
in substances that we melt and boil ? ” 

“ Exactly. How else could they have come ? ” 

“ I could never grasp such an immense stretch of 
time as this must have taken,” said Walter. “ How 
awful it all seems.” 

“ Yes,” replied the hermit, “ the lessons of geology 
are solemn and grand beyond conception. Even in 
times comparatively modern, great changes have 
taken place. The cave now closed may once have 
admitted the mammoth — we cannot tell.” 

The more practical sheriff showed no great inter- 
est in a conversation reaching so far beyond old Eli 
Stark, but Walter would have been glad to pro- 
long it. 

Seeing that both Mr. McGregor and Palph were 
very tired, the hermit showed them the slee^Ding ac- 
commodations which, almost unnoticed, he had pre- 
pared since their arrival, and they were soon com- 
fortably snoring. Ealph in particular sounded his 


A STKANGE INTRUSION. 159 

nasrftl trumpet outrageously, and roared like a puma 
with the toothache. 

“I should think the jar would wake him,” said 
Walter, who still sat up talking with Mr. Percy, 
“though of coarse the noise would never disturb 
him.” 

The hermit spoke feelingly of Mr. Mercer and his 
family, inquiring into every particular, and express- 
ing the deepest regret that there should be so little 
chance of finding the lost treasure which all were so 
anxious to find. 

“ I wish I knew the extent of this cave,” he said, 
“ and whether it has any outlet elsewhere.” 

“ It may go quite through the mountain,” said Wal- 
ter, “ and who knows but the robbers may have dis- 
covered some way of getting into it at the other 
end?” 

“ But in that case why should they have made their 
home in a separate cavern ? ” queried the hermit at 
this point. 

“Perhaps it was more convenient,” replied Wal- 
ter. 

“ True ; that would have been a good reason for 
their tactics.” 

“ It could do no harm to go in and explore beyond 
the lake,” was the lad’s remark ; “ then we should 
know.” 

Mr. Percy said this would of course be done, pro- 
vided the next day’s search outside should prove 
fruitless, however little hope there might be of suc- 
cess. 

Walter felt much at home as he threw himself on 
a bearskin, close under the rock wall ; yet it was a 
long time before he could get asleep, for the events 
of the past few days had all to be passed in review, 
and the chances of the future to be considered and 
jre-QOnsideredj while the puffings of Ealph and the 


160 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


sheriff came in fitful responses to his thoughts of tlw 
missing gold. 

He slept at last, however, forgetting the dear old 
hospitable cavern and all the fancies that had been 
chasing each other through his mind. It must have 
been near daybreak, when the soundness of his slum- 
ber was broken by a partial return of consciousness, 
accompanied with that queer sensation which one ex- 
periences when neither asleep nor awake. It was a 
sort of day-dream. 

But this was not all. He had a vague nightmare 
impression that the place contained one occupant 
too many. In fact, he seemed to see this occupant, 
though unable for the moment to move or call 
out. , 

The condition of drowsy bewilderment, however, 
was very brief. His mind struggled to arouse itself, 
and suddenly the nightmare feeling was gone. 
Opening his eyes with a full consciousness of what 
was passing, he fixed them upon the figure of a man 
who seemed to have just issued from the depths of 
the cave, and who stood revealed by a dim lamp 
which the hermit had allowed to burn through the 
night. If the person had brought a lantern it had 
been set carefully down behind, as a matter of pre- 
caution. 

Kalph and the sheriff still snored, puff, puff, puff — 
snort, snort, snort — and Mr. Percy, too, was sleeping 
as soundly as they, though he made less noise about 
it, for he was not of the puffing kind. 

The intruder advanced as stealthily as a cat in an 
unexplored cellar, and seemed every moment on the 
point of turning to retreat. Evidently he was both 
surprised and alarmed at the discovery he had made 
at that moment. 

“ Puff — snort,” went the sheriff ; “ snort — puff,” 
answered the deaf and dumb man j calmly and 


A MORNING EXERCISE. 


161 

deeply breathed the hermit. The unannounced vis- 
itor shot a quick glance towards each, then moved a 
foot backward and was prepared to retrace his steps. 
A few minutes more and he would be hidden in the 
labyrinths of an almost limitless cave, and pursuit 
would be hopeless. 

Suddenly he discovered that Walter was lying 
awake. Our young friend felt a pair of large, owlish 
eyes fixed full upon his own. It was the most thrill- 
ing moment that the boy ever experienced. All that 
he had been striving for — all that his friends had 
hoped for — might depend on a single effort then and 
there. He hesitated not for an instant, but sprang 
upon the intruder ! 


CHAPTER XXXL 

A MORNING EXERCISE. 

The spring that Walter gave was quick and pow- 
erful. He clutched the bear-skin on which he had 
been lying, and in a moment it was wrapped around 
the man’s head as if hurled by a tornado. Then the 
two struggled fiercely together ; but the lad had the 
advantage, as his enemy was not only blinded but in 
a manner pinioned by the heavy blanket that wrapped 
him about, and which his young and nimble assailant 
took good care should not be thrown off. Though 
but sixteen, the boy was strong, and he now exerted 
his powers desperately to overcome his hated antago- 
nist. 

The stranger fumbled for a pistol, but Walter 
caught it first, and dashed it across the cavern. Then 
whirling around they went, the man with his head 
still in a “ bag,” and his arms but partially free, and 
the lad clasping him about the shoulders and trying 
to trip his feet. Not a word was spoken, and very 


162 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


little noise was made — in fact, not half as much as 
came from Kalph and the sheriff, who continued to 
snore on, in total ignorance of the strange scene that 
was passing in the cabin. 

At length down the two gladiators went upon the 
stone floor, Walter uppermost. Then Mr. Percy 
awoke, and of course instantly discovered the fight 
that was in progress. 

“ Walter, Walter ! ” he cried as he sprang up, 
“ what is the matter ? What is going on ? Who is 
that man ? ” 

“ Oh, nothing,” said the boy, still struggling to 
maintain his advantage, “ only I have old Eli Stark 
here under this bear-skin ! ” 

“ Old Eli Stark ! ” exclaimed the hermit, springing 
forward to join the rough and tumble scene, 
“ old Eli Stark ! Impossible ! Mr. McOregor ! Mr. 
McGregor ! ” 

But the sheriff had already stopped snoring, and 
was coming with a bound from his couch. He was 
at home in affairs of this kind. 

For a few moments old Eli kicked vigorously and 
struggled to free his arms ; but upon perceiving how 
useless the contest was, he presently gave it up. 
The first precaution taken by the sheriff was to ex- 
amine the prisoner for weapons, and he was surprised 
at not finding any. 

“ I threw his revolver across the room,” said Wal- 
ter, “and his bowie, too, is somewhere about the 
floor.” 

Our young friend was almost out of breath from 
his exertions ; the perspiration streamed from his 
face, and he was glad to feel the current of fresh air 
which came in through the doorway of the cave, 
which had been left open through the night, from 
the heat of the weather. 

Mr. McGregor looked for his coat, the pocket ot 


A MORNING EXERCISE. 


163 


whicli contained a pair of handcuffs ; while Mr. Percy 
and Ralph, the deaf and dumb man having now been 
aroused, kept a fast hold of the captive, who seemed 
to be quite resigned to his fate, and made no effort 
to escape from his captors. 

“ Bother the coat ! ” said the sheriff, “ I have for- 
gotten where I threw it.” But he quickly found it 
and produced the manacles. 

Old Eli, though he stood up, seemed limp and 
powerless, hardly able to keep his feet. He appeared 
not to notice anything about him, but to be com- 
pletely unnerved by exhaustion and despair. Mr. 
Percy, however, was not deceived by these signs, nor 
was Ralph ; they thought their hold of him secure, 
for 'they fairly grasped the old culprit’s flesh as well 
as his clothing. 

How it was done they could never have explained ; 
but in an instant, like an exploded can of dynamite, 
Eli Stark was gone from their grasp ! He struck 
each of them a quick blow as he whirled about, and 
then, through the narrow doorway, and out into the 
open air, he shot like an escaped wolf. 

It was still quite dark, and there was great difficulty 
in following him as he dodged among the rocks and 
trees at a breakneck speed. Walter had been nearer 
the door than any of the others, so that the old rob- 
ber when he made the plunge had fairly dashed him 
against the wall ; nevertheless, he was the first out 
in pursuit. 

The wily fugitive zigzagged as much as possible, 
as this would give him advantage in the dark. 
Sometimes his pursuers seemed almost to surround 
him ; when suddenly, by crashing through a bush or 
darting around a rock, he would gain a momentary 
start. The chase, however, could not be long, as 
Walter could easily outrun him, whatever the others 
might have been able to do. 


164 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


Still, tlie pursuers found tlieir task by no means 
an easy one. Old Eli, though not a very swift run- 
ner, w^as as wiry and cunning as a fox, and was put- 
ting forth all his strength and skill in this last effort 
for his liberty. 

“ Head him off ! ” cried the sheriff, whose wind and 
patience were nearly exhausted. 

“ Here he goes ! ” shouted Mr. Percy. 

And then rushing footsteps could be heard, wuth 
the crackle of brushwood or the rattle of loose 
stones. In some places it was pitch dark, and in 
such he more than once hid behind the tree trunks. 

Twice Walter caught the old man’s clothing, and 
twice it was wrenched from his hand. The last time, 
the robber struck him a heavy blow which for the 
moment staggered him. 

“ Hold on to him ! ” cried the sheriff. 

“ Don’t let him hurt you ! ” called the hermit, full 
of regard for Walter’s safety. 

Instantly the boy was again in hot pursuit, and 
prepared to grasp the desperate criminal for the 
third time. 

But old Eli had made his final effort. A chasm, 
which he did .not see, lay direct in his course, and he 
plunged headlong into it. Luckily the fissure was 
not so wide but that W^alter, who was only a few feet 
behind, easily overleaped it. Then he turned to 
look at the fallen man. 

Eli Stark’s head and body had struck the stones 
with terrible force, and he lay insensibfe. Walter’s 
three companions came up. Poor Ralph had labored 
under the disadvantage of having to run by sight 
alone, while the others had a part of the time run 
by sound. 

“ Do you think the villain is dead ? ” asked Mr. 
Percy of the sheriff’. 

“ No, he isn’t killed so easily ! He is badly hurt, 


A MOENING EXEECISE. 


165 


but I guess he’ll come to. Nothing but a slip-noose 
and a trap door with a nine-foot fall will stop such 
an old scamp’s wind for any length of time.” 

“What is to be done with him?” inquired the 
hermit. 

“ Oh, we’ll make a litter, and carry him on it to 
your cave.” 

“ Yes, we might do that,” was the reply. 

“ This finishes them up,” said Walter, “ but I’d no 
thought it would be done so soon, when they had me 
prisoner, though I meant to do my part towards 
it.” 

“ How came you to discover this man, and where 
had he come from when you tackled him ? ” asked the 
sheriff. 

“ He came out of the main cave ; and he was about 
getting back there when I threw the bearskin over 
his head.” 

“ Why didn’t you call for help before you made 
any movement ? ” 

“ Because I thought he would run into the cave, 
and perhaps give us a great deal of trouble — he 
might know of some way of escape that we knew 
nothing of.” 

“ I think you were right,” said Mr. Percy. “ Had 
he escaped into the cave, he would have had every 
advantage, and might easily have shot some of his 
pursuers. Besides, if he could get into it by some 
secret passage, as he must have done, he would be 
able to go out the same way.” 

“ It is not likely that he went in by your entrance,” 
said the sheriff. “ He certainly would not have ven- 
tured to do so.” 

“ No, that is out of the question. There must be 
some other way of getting in. This old wretch, in 
wandering about, may have got lost and found his 
way to my part of the cave by accident. It puzzles 


166 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


me, however, to account for his being on this side of 
the lake.” 

“ Perhaps the robbers may have been acquainted 
with a part of the cavern for some time,” suggested 
Walter. “ They may have had some means of pad- 
dling about on their side of the lake, though perhaps 
they never explored the whole of it. I feel sure that 
this cave of yours is the same as the one in which 
the robbers lived. They occupied one end of it, and 
you the other, and the middle is filled up with that 
wonderful lake.” 

“ That is quite probable,” said Mr. Percy, “ but I 
hope we shall soon solve the mystery.” 

Not a word was said of the stolen treasure, 
though all were thinking of it. Eli Stark was con- 
veyed to the cavern, and laid, still insensible, upon 
a couch. All had passed rapidly, and it was not yet 
sunrise. 

Unfortunately, however, the sheriff, at the very 
moment of reaching the hermit’s door, was seized 
with a weakness of the spine, brought on by his 
exertions, joined with a misstep he had made, so that 
he was hardly able to move. Walter and Mr. Percy 
had to carry him into the cave, and carefully lay him 
down upon one of the beds. 

“ I shall not get over it for the next fortnight,” 
he said, with vexation. “I have had the same be- 
fore.” 

“ Oh, dear ! ” thought Walter, “ how many more 
delays are there to be ? ” 

He ran into the main cave and found the lantern 
which Eli Stark had set down there before venturing 
out. 

Our lad’s excitement was now at fever heat. 
What of the lake and the canoe ? Would another 
canoe be found by the side of Mr. Percy’s? Was 
there not a shore beyond that solemn pool where the 


WALTER UPON THE LAKE. 


167 

hundred thousand dollars of Mr. Mercer’s, and other 
golden piles, lay concealed ? 

He passed into and out of the smooth arlley- 
way, impatient and nervous, feeling that he could 
hardly bear to wait longer to know the whole 
truth. 

“I’ve found the lantern,” he said to Mr. Percy, 
“ and I’ll see if I can find anything else. Perhaps 
I shall hit upon a line of gold eagles dropped to 
mark the way.” 

“ Perhaps so,” replied the hermit, absently, as he 
was attending to old Eli’s case. The old robber still 
lay motionless and insensible, and Mr. Percy began 
to fear that he might be “playing possum ” again. 

Walter returned to the inner cave and went in for 
a short distance — stopped — went a little further — 
then further still. 

“I’ll keep on to the lake,” he said; “it won’t 
take long, and I guess Mr. Percy will not be alarmed 
about me.” 

At the start he had taken with him the canoe pad- 
dle, but even now he did not expect to use it. He 
would simply try to discover by what means the rob- 
ber had crossed the water. 


CHAPTER XXXn. 

WALTEK UPON THE LAKE. 

It was not without a feeling of awe that Walter 
traversed the long and silent aisles so far from the 
light of day. 

Yet he was almost glad to be alone. The very 
sense of his loneliness bore him up — it was such 
a grand and solemn thing to be thus plunging all 
by himself into the deep heart of the earth, leaving 
the daylight and the open air behind him. 

As he descended gradually towards the lake, and 


168 


THE MOUNTAIN OAVE. 


looked upon the immense and shining walls about 
him, he thought of what he had heard the hermit 
say of the “ center of gravity,” where an elephant 
would be no heavier than a flea ; and from which all 
directions must be “ up,” without any “down,’ just 
as all must be south to a person standing at the north 
pole. 

Most boys would have hesitated and turned back, 
as if fearful of meeting some undefined personality 
representing the Spirit of the Cavern ; but Walter 
had nothing of this feeling. He thought only of the 
dark grandeur of the scene, and how the roots of the 
great cedars above must now be pointing directly to- 
wards him. 

“ I cannot be far from the lake,” he thought, at 
length, “ and I’ll soon discover if old Eli has meddled 
with the little canoe. Then I must hurry back, or 
Mr. Percy will begin to fear I have got lost in the 
cavern.” 

As such reflections were passing through his mind, 
he seemed to detect a light ahead, and setting down 
his own lantern, he advanced a few paces in the dark 
to make sure. He could now see it plainly. 

It appeared like a bright red star, and remained 
motionless at a point slightly below his own level and 
not very far away. 

“ What, and where can it be ? ” he asked himself. 
“ I will leave my lantern where it is, and go on till I 
can discover the meaning of it.” 

He approached it cautiously, with a vague appre- 
hension that, after all, there might have been more 
robbers than had been bargained for. Brighter and 
brighter it grew, but still continued immovable in 
the same spot. 

Suddenly a happy thought flashed upon him that 
made him smile. 

“ It must be a lantern that old Eli left to guide his 


WALTEE UPON THE LAKE. 169 

return,” lie said, “Yes, that’s what it is, sure 
enough 1 ” 

Stepping hastily forward he found it, indeed, to be 
a lantern placed in the bow of a canoe which had 
been hauled high and dry out of the pool, to await 
the robber’s return. 

“ But this isn’t Mr. Percy’s canoe,” he said ; “ it 
is different in every way. It must have belonged to 
the robbers, and that old man crossed the water 
in it.” 

At a little distance he discovered the hermit’s canoe, 
remaining as he had last seen it, close beside the 
subterranean lake. 

And now came reflections of the most exciting 
nature. 

Must not the robbers have been well acquainted 
with the cave on the other side of the pool ? And 
hence, was it not almost certain that they had there 
deposited the one hundred thousand dollars, the loss 
of which had reduced Mr. Mercer and his family to a 
distressing poverty ? 

Oh, how Walter’s heart glowed at the near pros- 
pect of its restoration ! After all her uncertainty, all 
her anxiety, what happy news there might be for 
poor little Maud — and that too, so very soon 1 

He looked off upon the black lake, and the longing 
to launch forth upon it grew almost irresistible. 
The darker and more solemn it seemed, the stronger 
was its fascination. 

But should he obey the impulse — what would Mr. 
Percy think had become of him? He knew that 
should he be long missing the good man wuuld be- 
come alarmed for his safety, and would fear that he 
was lost. 

He walked along the shore of the pool, and saw no 
end of the water. 

Overhead there were bright, starry spots where 


170 


THE MOUNTAIN CAYE. 


the stalactites glowed in the roof, but underneath all 
was darkness. 

At length he perceived, through the prevailing 
blackness, a something at a distance that at once 
drew his whole attention. It was a small light, as 
steady as the ray from a lighthouse. 

“ Another lantern ! ” he cried. “ Another of old 
Eli’s beacons ! I am decided now ! I am going for 
that gold without a moment’s delay ! ” 

He had at the first lighted all the ingeniously 
contrived lamps attached to Mr. Percy’s canoe, and 
now, leaving two others burning behind him, he 
had only to push off upon “ the melancholy flood,” 
though not with that grim ferryman whom poets 
write of. 

It surprised him to find how slight an effort would 
cause the light thing of bark, in which he was, to 
shoot rapidly along, as it glided farther and farther 
into the region of “Chaos and Old Night.” 

The lamps he carried threw a broad glare over 
the black water, while their rays were constantly re- 
flected by the myriad crystals above, that sparkled as 
if the whole roof was hung with jewels such as royalty 
itself never wore. 

It proved a long distance to the spot whence the 
light he had discovered was shedding its gleam ; 
but at length he reached it, and stepping from the 
canoe, he experienced something of the feeling which 
must have inspired Columbus at St. Salvador — 
for he had discovered a new world, and as he hoped, 
a golden one. 

Soon, however, upon looking about him, he felt 
his hopes sink. 

He had reached only an island of smooth rock in 
the midst of the lake, and of very small extent. It 
was evident that no treasure could ever have been 
concealed in such a place. 


WALTEB UPON THE LAKE. 


171 


No beacon was to be seen beyond. Should he 
return or go on ? He decided for the last with very 
little hesitation, and set his face forward. 

Pushing again out into the darkness, yet with the 
assurance that there remained the friendly lanterns 
astern, he continued his course. 

Soon before him he beheld solemn and gigantic 
pillars that, rising directly out of the water, ap- 
peared like enormous supports of the roof. 

He could see them quite distinctly, as the glitter- 
ing crystals that hung from them like icicles gave 
back the glare of his lamps. 

Presently he found himself in a narrow and tor- 
tuous strait, and lost sight of the light behind. Still, 
however, he kept on, believing that he could retain a 
good idea of the way of return. 

In a few minutes the strait was passed, when 
again, to his great relief, he discovered a light 
ahead. 

How well old Eli Stark had marked the way ! 
Those underground people had possessed a store of 
lanterns, and with these they had overcome the dilSi- 
culties of such dark navigation. 

Apparently the solemn lake lay all unbroken be- 
tween himself and the new beacon ; but the roof 
was now very low, and some of the seeming icicles 
almost touched his head. 

At one spot he was surprised to discover above 
him an immensely deep fissure, through which he 
could see the sky. 

It was like gazing up from the bottom of a well, for 
though it must now be broad daylight in the upper 
world, he could see the stars look down upon him 
as he paused under this strange opening in the vast 
rock. 

He judged that it was not less than five hundred 
• feet to the top of the prodigious chasm. 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


Old Eli never came down that way,” he thought ; 
it would have been like lowering himself from one 
of those stars ! ” And he was quite safe in the con- 
clusion, for the vast tunnel was really awful. 

It showed him, however, that he could not now be 
under the highest part of the mountain, as in that 
case the opening must have been thousands of feet 
deep instead of only hundreds. 

He had approached its rugged and shelving side, 
where the weight of its mighty roof was gradually 
lessening. 


CHAPTER XXXin. 

THE ISLAND IN THE LAKE. 

Walter’s attention was now attracted to a queer 
phenomenon. It began to seem as if the dark atmos- 
phere about him were full of life. Myriads of swift 
shapes came whirling about his head, and once or 
twice he felt them graze his cap. 

They appeared to start out from the roof as the 
canoe moved along with its flaming lamps, just as 
flies are driven from a ceiling by a torch held close 
beneath them. 

He could not help fearing that they might strike 
him fairly in the face, as they went noiselessly 
flitting by ; for they circled and ducked about like 
leaves in a whirlwind, and he could feel the fanning 
of their wings. 

It did not take him long to discover that these 
creatures were bats ; and he thought the roof must 
have been completely lined with that living mass. 
Indeed, he soon began to see them hanging head 
downwards in every direction from the rock over his 
head. 

“ I hardly think they have all come down that long 
hole,” he said ; “ they must know of some other 


THE ISLAND IN THE LAKE. I7S 

way to get in. I guess the shell is getting thinner 
very fast.” 

The beacon he had last discovered was at length 
reached, and he perceived that the spot it marked 
was a very singular one. Here the roof was once 
more high, with pillars and broken walls rising all 
about like the ice shafts of a berg floating in the 
Arctic seas. 

Exploring the place where he had landed, he found 
that this, too, was an island, though very unlike the 
other. 

Is appeared to consist of mingled earth and rock, 
with great inequalities of surface. There were 
huge loose stones lying here and there, and every- 
thing indicated changes of which nature alone kept 
the history. 

The young discoverer presently stumbled upon 
two or three half buried objects, large and yellow, 
and having the appearance of bones. In spite of 
their immense size, he finally concluded that they 
were so, for he was unable to imagine what else they 
could be. 

“Certainly, then,” he reflected, “the cave could 
not always have been as it is now. The bed of the 
lake must have been dry, and somewhere the cavern 
must have had a very wide mouth for these enormous 
creatures to enter.” 

Not far from the bones he came upon another 
relic still more interesting, for it was a tusk seven or 
eight feet long, which he lifted with unbounded cu- 
riosity. He found that it was undoubtedly the tusk 
of a mammoth. 

Here, then, the vast mammoths were wont to come, 
in ages when, perhaps, a dim light might have held 
the place of this solemn darkness. Youn§ mam- 
moths might have been born here, and how many 
huge skeletons of the race might be hidden forever 


174 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


under the unknown depths of the subterranean 
lake ! 

To Walter there was a weird enchantment upon 
every side ; but uppermost in his mind was the 
thought of the object for which he had come ; and 
he wondered if the robbers could have found a better 
place to conceal their treasure than this dark island 
in the wide pool. 

With a lantern in each hand he traversed it slowly 
and searchingly. Of course old Eli Stark must 
have explored it, but had not the others known of 
it too ? 

Presently, at a spot where there was a trace of 
earth, he came to a full stop and bent eagerly to ex- 
amine it. 

A number of faint human footprints were visible, 
and he perceived that they varied in shape and size. 
They had evidently been made by several different 
persons. 

“ It is plain that a number of the gang have been 
here,” he said, “ and I’ll look for more signs of them 
just as carefully as I can.” 

He passed on, scanning the ground foot by foot, 
peering into every hollow, and measuring every loose 
stone with his eyes. At length he paused abruptly, 
and setting down his lantern, picked up some frag- 
ments of rock. What had struck him about them 
was the appearance they had of having been lately 
chipped off. On the ground there was a little stone 
dust. 

His heart beat fast. Where was the block from 
which they had been hewn ? 

The search, for a time, was almost microscopic ; 
then the faint outlines of a heel print led the eager 
seeker'to concentrate his efforts upon a spot near it, 
till at length he came upon a large stone, which a 
close examination showed to have been hammered a 


THE ISLAND m THE LAKE. 175 

little upon one end. It would weigh five or six hun- 
dred pounds, and was firmly wedged in its place. 

Here was' one of the most exciting discoveries pos- 
sible — for this Avork of human hands had a look of 
newness, and seemed to have been recently placed in 
the position it now occupied. 

“ Here is the gold ! ” was the boy’s glad exclama- 
tion. “ I am sure I have found it ! Oh, Mr. Mercer ! 
Oh, Maud ! what a story I shall have for you ! ” 

But as he looked again at the huge stone his heart 
sank — for, much as he longed to make assurance 
doubly sure, he could see no means of doing so. 

In addition to its great weight, the rocks on each 
side held it where it was. 

“ A man with a crowbar,” he reflected, might pry 
it up ; but I have not even a stick — though a stick 
would be of no use, to be sure.” 

He looked about for some implement which the 
robbers might have concealed, but nothing of the 
kind could be found. 

Then he thought of the huge mammoth tusk, and 
with infinite labor dragged it to the spot ; but the 
end was so blunt that he could get no hold of the 
stone with it. His big lever Avould slip and fall 
down, and then he would tug to lift it again, with 
the perspiration almost blinding him. 

“ It’s of no use,” he said, “ I cannot do it ! I’ll sit 
down and rest a little, and then paddle back as fast 
as possible to tell Mr. Percy.” 

He seated himself with his back to a rock, and 
wiping his hot forehead, thought of the strange sit- 
uation in which he found himself. 

“ Here I am,” he mused, “ three or four miles un- 
der the earth, trying to pry up Mr. Mercer’s gold 
with the tusk of a mammoth ! What would Maud 
say, could she know of it? Wouldn’t her eyes grow 
round and large if she were to look into this cave ? 


176 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


I guess they would ! But they could never be any 
prettier than they are already ! ” 

The thought of what probably lay beneath the 
great stone was almost more than he could contain, 
and made him desperately in earnest in his endeav- 
ors to raise it. But they were in vain. 

“ The robbers have never lived here,” he said to 
himself, “but I suppose they discovered this cave, 
and saw that it would be a good place to hide their 
booty in. The entrance must be a very small one, I 
think, and no doubt they have covered it in some 
artful way.” 

Loath as he felt to leave the spot until the last doubt 
should be solved, the necessity appeared inevitable, 
and with reluctant steps he returned to the canoe. 

But the fascination of his strange and dark sur- 
roundings still held him. 

“ I wonder what there is beyond ? ” he said. “ I 
wonder how far the lake reaches? There must be 
‘ main land ’ somewhere, just as there is in the upper 
world. I’ll keep on for a short distance, at least.” 

So he paddled leisurely, stopping often to look up 
at the pillars and vast walls, till the lights he had 
left astern were out of sight, and he was once more 
alone in the dark cavern. 

“ I must go back,” he thought, at length, “ for I 
don’t know what sort of a predicament I am getting 
into. Now where is the light ? Where is the island ? 
Which way have I come ? ” 

He sat still in the canoe, looking first this way and 
then that. 

Was he indeed lost? It must be so. The little 
craft swung slowly around, and he had not the least 
idea in which direction the head should be pointed. 

All beyond his small circle of light lay in pitch 
darkness, and he was liable at any moment to find 
his craft in contact with some jagged rock. 


AGAIN UNDEK THE OPEN SKY. 


177 


As he sat thus, he could not help getting the im- 
pression that the canoe was being carried slowly 
along without any effort of his own. 

He judged so from the appearance of the walls 
nearest to him, where the stalactites kept constantly 
changing as the lantern-light seemed to move 
along. 

What could it mean ? Was there a tide in this ap- 
parently tideless lake ? Was there a mysterious cur- 
rent setting toward some equally mysterious point ? 

Was the canoe to go away down to the center of 
the earth upon some cold, dark river that men had 
never dreamed of? 

The boy struck his paddle vertically into the wa- 
ter. It was only three feet deep. 

“ I couldn’t touch bottom a little while ago,” he 
said, and he wondered if the end of the lake might 
not be close at hand. 

As he peered about him, he suddenly made a dis- 
covery of great interest. 


CHAPTER XXXIV. 

AGAIN UNDER THE OPEN SKY. 

A LONG, thin streak of twinkling light was what 
Walter saw. 

It seemed to extend from the bottom of the cave 
to the top, losing itself in the roof. Everywhere else 
there was inky blackness ; but this streak was as if a 
midnight cloud had been cut in two so as to admit a 
line of light from the horizon almost to the zenith. 

He paddled directly under it, and at the same time 
could not help feeling that a current was helping him 
along. 

Presently, close down to the water, he could see a 
spot a number of feet wide full of star-like glimmer- 


■178 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


ings, as if tlie side of the cave were there almost like 
a sieve. 

In a few minutes he found the canoe in contact 
with what he perceived to be the dead branches of 
trees. 

These he cleared away with some difficulty, and 
then his little craft was carried by the current among 
a thick growth of reeds. 

The roof of the cave was very low at this point, and 
Walter had to bend down in his canoe to avoid strik- 
ing his head against it. But a little way ahead of 
him he could see the daylight glimmering. 

Less than a hundred yards further on, he reached 
. the mouth of the cave, where the stream flowed forth 
from its subterranean fountains into the open air. 

Looking up in astonishment, Walter saw the broad 
sky, and perceived that on both sides of him there 
were thick green trees under which the current still 
. made its way till it emerged into a small, deep moun- 
tain pool. 

Getting out upon the little water sheet of perhaps 
an acre in extent, he found that this in its turn 
emptied itself into a swift stream. 

The cluster of reeds through which he had just 
passed, completely hid the outlet of the cave, and 
other clusters were growing here and there about the 
small lake. 

No one would have thought of looking in such a 
place for an opening into the mountain, and the 
robbers must have discovered the passage by ac- 
cident. 

Magellan, on passing the strait which admitted him 
into the Pacific, could scarcely have experienced the 
triumph which Walter now felt. Paddling quickly 
to the shore, he climbed the mountain side, in order 
to get something like a correct idea of his position ; 
and here, standing upon a high rock, he had a toler- 


AGAIN UNDER THE OPEN SKY. I79 

ably good view of the region upon which he had 
emerged. 

“ If the sheriff’s men have scattered themselves 
along the side of the mountain,” he said, “ I may get 
sight of some of them.” 

He gazed in every direction. “ The problem is to 
know which way to go,” he thought. “I have just 
come out of the earth, and everything has a strange 
look to me.” 

But in a few minutes he started with a thrill of joy. 
Far off he had caught the sound of a human voice, as 
of one person calling to another at a distance. 

“ They are about here somewhere,” he said to him- 
self. “ Hello ! hello ! helloo-00 ! ” he cried, putting 
his whole vocal strength into the call. 

“ Hello ! ” came in response. 

And a moment later two horsemen came in sight, 
as they suddenly emerged from a clump of pine 
trees on the mountain side not far below the spot to 
which Walter had scrambled. 

“ There they are ! ” he exclaimed. I see them. 
Hello ! ” And he leaped up and waved his cap. The 
men saw him and turned in his direction, while, get- 
ting down from the rock, he ran to meet them. 

One of the two horsemen proved to be Mr. Mercer 
and the other the sheriff’s deputy. 

In a few words Walter made them acquainted with 
his discovery. Mr. Mercer fairly shook with excite- 
ment. 

“ Why,” said the deputy, “ there is a crowbar in 
the robbers’ cave, the very thing we need. I han- 
dled it yesterday. I will go and get it, and we will 
soon find what there is under the stone.” 

He rode away, promising to be back in half an 
hour. 

Meanwhile Walter and Mr. Mercer eagerly dis- 
cussed the discoveries that the former had made, and 


180 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


the chances of recovering the lost gold which the 
boy believed was under the great stone on the 
island. 

“ Oh, Tm almost sure the gold is there ! ” said Wal- 
ter to Mr. Mercer. “ I know some treasure must be 
there.” 

“ But you say that you lost sight of the light upon 
the island before getting out,” said the anxious man. 
“ Perhaps it will puzzle you to find the place again.” 

“No,” replied Walter. “I know now how it is. 
The lake narrows to a crooked passage, and when we 
get beyond that, we shall see the light.” 

The deputy soon returned, bringing with him the 
crowbar. 

“ This implement looks like business,” he said ; 
“ and now we will go right to the island in the lake 
and try our luck.” 

The canoe would easily carry three, and Walter, 
although too brave a lad to indulge a foolish vanity, 
certainly did feel a strong sense of self-importance 
as he proceeded to navigate it, as if he were the 
Charon of that dark lake ! 

Sure enough, when the crooked strait had been 
cleared, the small specks of light were observed 
ahead. 

“ There it is,” said the young navigator ; “ that is 
the island, and both my lanterns are burning. We 
have only to go straight ahead now.” 

Mr. Mercer was amazed at his surroundings. The 
awful mass of darkness, the solemn walls, the glow- 
ing crystals, the black, silent lake — all combined to 
strike him with astonishment. 

He seemed to have left the real world, and to have 
become the plaything of some wild and marvelous 
dream. Even the bats that flitted close to his head 
had something of the weird and supernatural to his 
imagination. 


UNEABTHIKG THE TEEASURE. 


181 


“Why, Walter,” he said, ‘‘the idea that you should 
have navigated such a lake in this pitch darkness all 
alone, seems too strange to be true ! It is one of the 
most surprising feats I ever heard of ! ” 

“I suppose,” said Walter, “that after the robbers 
found the entrance, they made a canoe and went 
paddling about here, but I guess old Eli Stark is the 
only one of them that ever discovered the other 
shore.” 

“ Probably,” said the deputy, “ as he was hidden 
here he concluded to explore the place.” 

“ You are sure the stone you saw had been placed 
there by design ? ” remarked Mr. Mercer, anxiously, 
seeming to fear some mistake after all. 

“Oh, yes, sir,” said Walter, “you will see that this 
must have been the case. If I could have got that 
old mammoth tusk under it, I could have pried it up 
myself.” 


CHAPTER XXXV. 

UNEAETHING THE TREASURE. 

The moment Mr. Mercer and the deputy looked at 
the stone they saw that Walter was right. It must 
have been put in its position by human hands. Mr. 
Mercer shook all over from the excitement of his 
nerves. 

He was not in a rugged condition, and the strain 
of expectancy and doubt proved more than he could 
easily bear. 

As to the sheriff’s officer, he was also shaky, as 
almost all men are in the presence of great mysteries 
which they seem on the point of solving. Perhaps, 
too, he might have felt a something like superstition, 
— for no doubt he had heard or read of strange 
phenomena in connection with buried treasure. 


182 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


The iron bar was put in place, and the two men 
threw their weight on it, Walter being unable to as- 
sist, as it was not long enough for three. The stone, 
however, did not move ; the rocks at its sides so wedg- 
ing it as to make the resistance very great. 

They rested a moment, then tried once more, and 
with more vigorous efforts than before. They strained 
and tugged with all their strength at the crowbar, 
and at last it seemed as if they were making an im- 
pression upon the huge rock they were trying to 
raise. 

“ Ah ! ” said the officer, “ it starts ! ” 

“ Or the bar is bending,” said Mr. Mercer, “ I don’t 
know which.” 

But at this instant a strange reverberation rolled 
through the cavern, seeming to start successively 
from a hundred places along the walls and roof. 

It was impossible to say in what direction the 
sound had originated, for it was everywhere ; and at 
last it died away in hollow groans as if the sides of 
the cave were full of spirits, who had been called forth 
from their hiding places by the bold intrusion of the 
explorers. 

“ What was that ? ” asked the deputy, startled 
nearly, out of his wits. 

“ I’m sure I don’t know,” replied Mr. Mercer. “ It 
sounds like an earthquake. I hope the roof isn’t 
going to fall in on us ! ” 

For a moment or two none of the party could guess 
at the origin of the mysterious and awful sound. 

“ It can’t be anything connected with the treasure, 
can it ? ” asked the officer. “ I’ve heard of such 
things, but ’twill take something pretty strong to 
make me believe in ’em ! ” 

“No,” returned Mr. Percy, “we need not fear that 
the robbers’ gold is guarded by goblins or ogres. I 
have lived too long in the hollow of the mountain to 


UNEARTHING THE TREASURE. 


183 


believe that they are inhabited by any supernatural 
beings.” 

Walter was the first to suggest a solution of the 
puzzling mystery. 

“ I can guess what it is,” he said. He had some 
reason to suspect the truth, and taking up Mr. 
Mercer’s gun, he asked permission to fire it. 

The report was answered by countless echoes ; and 
when these had died into silence, there came a peal 
like the one first heard — starting from a long way off 
and reverberating like thunder on all sides. 

Of course there was no longer any doubt as to the 
nature of the sound. It was caused by the firing of 
another gun. 

“ Mr. Mercer has come to look for me,” Walter 
said, “ and he is firing his gun to let me know he is 
here. Probably he knows I did not take any gun 
into the cave with me, and I think the answer must 
surprise him.” 

“He may take us for more robbers,” said the 
deputy, “ and go back.” 

“ Oh no, sir, he will not go back without first find- 
ing out what has become of me. He will see our 
lanterns and keep right on for us.” 

Sure enough, a light was seen approaching like a 
jack-o’-lantern ; but the three eager toilers did not 
intermit their struggle with the stone, which began 
to show signs of yielding. 

M^hen at last the bar had raised it a few inches, 
Walter seized the big mammoth tusk, and lifting it 
with all his strength, thrust the point into the open- 
ing. It went well under the stone, and made a cap- 
ital lever. 

Then throwing his whole weight upon the outer 
end Walter instantly pried up the heavy slate to an 
angle of some forty-five degrees. 

“ Oh, Mr. Mercer ! ” he cried, “ I do believe it’s 


184 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


there ! Please to hold the lantern, quick ! There’s a 
box or something ! ” 

But at that moment the mammoth tusk turned 
over, with the bend the wrong way, and down came 
the obstinate stone, wedging itself as tightly as 
ever, and once more covering whatever it was that 
had been entrusted to its keeping. 

“ There ! if that isn’t too bad ! ” cried Walter. I 
don’t know but some ghost is guarding it sure 
enough ! ” 

“ That tusk is a good thing to pry with as long as 
it keeps right side up,” said the deputy. “ Next 
time we’ll get hold and try to keep it from turning 
over.” 

Walter was eager to narrate his wonderful expe- 
riences to the hermit, who was now heard approach- 
ing the island. 

“ Mr. Percy ! Mr. Percy ! ” he shouted at the top 
of his voice. 

“ Hello ! ” came back through the darkness. ‘‘ Is 
that you, Walter ? ” 

“ Yes, sir ; and I’m all right. Mr. Mercer and the 
deputy sheriff are with me. Do come and see what 
we’ve found ! ” 


CHAPTER XXXVI. 
gold! 

Ralph, who had performed his mission, accompa- 
nied the hermit. As Mr. Percy landed, Walter hur- 
riedly explained to him what had taken place, and 
why he had ventured upon the expedition so 
abruptly. 

“ I had no idea of it when I left you,” he said, 
“ but I kept going on and on towards the lake, hardly 
knowing how far I was getting ; and at last the sight 


GOLD! 18 J, 

of the lantern, away off in the dark, made me launch 
the canoe.” 

He was too well-bred to forget, even in his excite- 
ment, what was due to the feelings of his kind friend, 
whom he had left without warning, and he apolo- 
gized for any anxiety that might have been caused 
by his sudden disappearance. 

Mr. Percy, however, assured him that no harm had 
been done, and that he fully approved of the course 
the boy had taken. 

“And so you think the treasure is under that 
stone ? ” said the hermit. 

“ Yes, sir ; it certainly is. We have got a glimpse 
of a tin box at least.” 

“ There can be very little doubt about it,” remarked 
the deputy sheriff. 

“I think,” said Mr. Mercer, “there is stolen treas- 
ure here of >^ome sort — but what and how much is the 
question.” 

As he spoke he continued to eye Mr. Percy sharply. 
The long, flowing beard and hair gave the hermit an 
extremely wild appearance as seen by lantern light in 
the depths of the dark cavern. But the earnest 
glance fixed upon his features read something which 
this outward disguise could not hide. 

Suddenly Mr. Mercer addressed the hermit with a 
voice full of emotion. 

“ Gerald ! Gerald ! ” he exclaimed, starting forward 
with outstretched hand, “ is it possible that this can 
be you? ” 

“Yes,” said the hermit, grasping the extended 
hand warmly. “I am Gerald without doubt, but I 
had no idea you would know me here. I am glad to 
see you, Edmund, truly glad ! ” 

“ I thank you, Gerald ! ” replied Mr. Mercer ; “ I 
know your warm heart. And so you have been living 
a hermit all this while ! How stupid I have been ! 


186 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


Walter called you Mr. Percy, and yet it never occurred 
to Isabel or me that the name of her brother was 
Gerald Percy Graham ! ” 

“Isabel?” thought Walter, “that is Mrs. Mercer’s 
name, and Maud’s name is Maud Isabel — I saw it 
written in her books.” 

“Oh, Gerald!” said Mr. Mercer, “I am sorry you 
should have taken your trouble so to heart. You 
ought not to have shunned the world so. No one 
who knew you believed you guilty of what you were 
accused. You have warm friends, and you have 
wronged both them and yourself by hiding from 
them in the manner you have done. 

“Yes,” he added, turning to Walter, “your Mr. 
Percy is Mrs. Mercer’s brother, and so I feel priv- 
ileged to lecture him soundly.” 

“ Perhaps I deserve it,” said the hermit. “ I often 
thought I must be the oddest mortal alive 1 ” 

“ But what about this big stone ! ” said poor Mr. 
Phillips, the deputy sheriff. 

“ Oh, yes ; the big stone 1 ” said the hermit, whom 
we must now call Mr. Graham, though it seems as 
odd for us to do so as it did to Walter. 

“ Yes, yes ; the big stone ! ” supplemented Mr. 
Mercer. “Why, Gerald, in meeting you. I’ve half 
forgotten what I came here for, though my all de- 
pends on the result.” 

“I have thought of you,” said Mr. Graham, 
“thought of you night and day, since our dear 
young lad here told me of what had happened to 
you. If you should recover your loss it would do me 
almost as much good as it would you. Your poor 
little Maud, too, how I have thought of her ! You 
know how I used to hold her on my knee.” 

“ I know, Gerald, I know ! And you may be sure 
she has not forgotten you. ’ 

“ There— now, I’ll get hold with the crowbar 


GOLD I 187 

again/’ said Mr. Philips, the deputy, “ and well give 
the thing another trial.” 

Ealph, who possessed great weight and strength, 
laid hold of the implement with him — Mr. Mercer 
standing by with small chocks to make sure of every 
inch that might be gained ; while, at the same time, 
Mr. Graham and Walter lifted the mammoth tusk 
ready to thrust it forward at the proper moment. 

XJjh up, an inch at a time, came the reluctant 
stone, and Mr. Mercer put his thin chocks under it 
as it rose, fearing that it might drop back into its. 
bed at the will of some invisible guardian of the 
place. 

As soon as the opening beneath was sufficiently 
wide, the end of the tusk was inserted, and then the* 
cover rose fast. When it had been raised to a proper 
angle, it was seized by as many hands as could lay 
hold of it and tumbled over upon the ground. 

In the cavity left exposed, there was revealed, first 
of all, a stout tin box with the cover closely soldered 
on. 

Although heavy, it was not remarkably so for its 
size. 

“ That’s not filled with coin or bullion,” said Mr. 
Phillips ; “ it contains something lighter. It would 
hold three hundred pounds weight of gold.” 

Next came four wooden boxes of a size much 
smaller — perhaps a foot long and six inches wide. 
Walter enthusiasticly grasped one of them, thinking 
to toss it out upon the ground — but some attraction 
beneath seemed to be holding it down. 

“ My goodness ! ” he exclaimed, “ what’s the matter 
with it ? I must be weak if I cannot lift a little salt 
box!” 

“ Salt box indeed ! ” said the deputy sheriff. “ It 
would weigh a hundred pounds ! There are thirty 
thousand dollars in it if there is an ounce ! ” 


188 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


The remaining three were removed, each being of 
about the same weight as the first. 

Under these were four tin boxes precisely alike, 
each being about twelve inches long, six wide, and 
four deep. 

Mr. Mercer trembled more than ever as he caught 
sight of them. 

Seizing the crowbar, he pried them apart from 
each other, got his fingers beneath one, and lifted it 
from its bed. Small as it was he had to tug heavily 
at it. 

Then he grasped one of the lanterns and held it 
close down to the lid. 

The name of “ Edmund Y. Mercer ” was plainly to 
be seen, stamped into the metal. 

His face grew pale as death, and he had to sit 
down on the side of the hole, just as if he had made 
one of the most painful discoveries in the world, in- 
stead of one of the most joyful that he could possibly 
have made. 

Walter was fairly wild. The weight of the boxes 
became as nothing to him. Leaping into the cavity, 
he threw out the remaining three as if they had con- 
tained only feathers. 

“Each of these four,” said the deputy sheriff, 
“must weigh at least eighty pounds. If they are 
filled with gold, they must contain altogether not 
less than a hundred thousand dollars.” 

“ That is just what they did contain when they 
left my hands three months ago,” said Mr. Mercer. 
“ I see that the lids have been cut open and resol- 
dered since then, but the weight is here certainly, and 
I don’t think that all this pains would have been 
taken to secrete a quantity of lead ! ” 

“ That is your gold,” said Mr. Phillips, “ there can 
be no doubt of it. I think there is no necessity for 
the boxes here. The four wooden ones con- 


THE INJUKED KOBBEE. 


189 


tain a still larger amount — belonging, probably, to 
several different parties, and representing as many 
robberies. As to the big tin one, that has watches 
and jewelry, stowed in very carefully, and with the 
lid soldered to keep out the damp.” 

“ May I try one of your boxes with my knife ? ” 
asked Walter of Mr. Mercer — for he was burning 
with impatience to see the contents. 

“ Yes,” replied the overjoyed man, “ if you can cut 
through the cover, do so, and remove all doubt.” 

Walter applied his knife to the hard lid, and 
worked away with all his strength. I don’t know 
whether or not he curled his tongue out of his mouth 
as boys sometimes do when putting their whole men- 
tal and physical powers into such work ; but, at all 
events, he sueceeded at last in making a long cut 
through the tin. 

In went the knife blade ; he pried the gap wider, 
while his four companions, bending above him, held 
their lanterns close down to the box. There was no 
mistaking the yellow glow of the contents ; it left 
“ no loop to hang a doubt on.” 


CHAPTER XXXVn. 

THE INJURED ROBBER. 

The question of transportation was next in order. 

“ These eight boxes of gold would probably weigh 
more than eight hundred pounds,” said the deputy 
sheriff, “ and here are five of us besides. The two 
canoes would be sure to spill us, gold and all, if we 
were to put all the treasure on board and get in our- 
selves.” 

“ I’ll run no such risk,” he said. “ We must take 
a part at a time, and ^o out with it tbe way we came 


190 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“ Yes/- said Mr. Phillips ; “ then we can get ropes 
and stout bags from the robbers’ cave, and sling all 
the boxes upon the horses.” 

“ In that way the thing could be managed well,” 
said the hermit. “ I don’t know how much the ca- 
noes would carry, but the navigation is dark and 
dangerous, and we must be very careful.” 

The plan was followed out with the utmost caution; 
the treasure was safely deposited on the shore of the 
little water-sheet outside, and the requisite materials 
for transporting it were brought from the robbers’ 
cavern. 

In the meantime two more of the sheriff’s posse 
were discovered, and these being trusty men, the 
golden freight would have a respectable escort 
around to the hermit’s abode. With the four horses 
the transportation could be easily accomplished. As 
to the canoes, they were left where they were, hauled 
up among the reeds. 

“ What a queer place that pond is,” said the her- 
mit, as the party rode away ; “ a person might paddle 
a canoe almost into the mouth of the cave without 
discovering it.” 

“Yes,” said Walter; “and I should never have 
found it from the inside if it had not been for the 
current that took me along there. The water moved 
just a little — not much — and I thought it must have 
an outlet.” 

“You have made a strange voyage,” said the dep- 
uty, “especially for a boy. Your nerves must be 
rather strong. What did you think when you were 
in the middle of that lake with pitch darkness all 
around you ? ” 

“ I thought I’d go on to the next lantern,” replied 
YValter, “and see if the gold was there. I had the 
gold in my mind all the time, for that was what I had 
come to look for,” 


THE INJUEED ROBBER. 


191 


** And so you tried to pry it up with that old mam- 
moth tusk.” 

“ Yes. Oh, you don’t know how hard I worked to 
get hold of the stone with it, but it wouldn’t hold 
on!” 

“ I would have liked to see you I ” replied the offi- 
cer, laughing. 

“We shall have all the geologists in the country 
here soon,” remarkd Mr. Graham. 

“ How do you suppose a mammoth ever got into 
such a place ? ” asked the deputy. 

“Oh, that was easy enough. You may have no- 
ticed that the rock outside has a loose, broken ap- 
pearance. I think that a portion of it has at some 
period slipped down, almost closing an entrance that 
was once very wide.” 

The deputy probably thought what a fine thing it 
is to have learning. 

The success of Walter’s exploration had been so 
complete that the lad could hardly realize it ; and he 
felt surprised that his sense of satisfaction should 
not be more overpowering than it was. 

Mr. Mercer probably experienced the same feeling ; 
for we are able to contain only a given amount of joy 
or grief, and he could hardly realize the wonderful 
change in his fortune. 

The hermit said that Eli Stark was reviving when 
he left him, but that he had the appearance of having 
been badly hurt inwardly. 

“ I don’t believe he can recover,” he said, “ and I 
have a great desire to know what he will say in case 
of his coming to a full sense of his condition.” 

“ So you think he Avill hardly get around to the 
penitentiary,” remarked Mr. Phillips. 

“ Hardly. He has received a prodigious shock.” 

Upon arriving at the hermit’s home, the party 
found Mr. McGregor, the high sheriff, much im- 


192 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


proved — the lameness in his back having proved less 
serious than he had anticipated. In fact, a potent 
botanical medicine, which Mr. Graham kept on hand, 
had worked in this case like a charm. 

The officer’s whole posse was now present, so that 
the rock walls of the mountain cave now shut in a 
larger company than they had ever before enclosed. 

A large number of the robbers’ spare horses had 
been found, and these, standing without, together 
with those of the sheriff’s men, gave to the surround- 
ings the appearance of a cavalry encampment. 

Walter looked at Eli Stark, who, though much 
hurt, was now entirely conscious. 

The wily old robber recognized the boy with a 
start of surprise. 

“I know you,” he said, feebly, “but how came you 
here ? I thought you were dead, till I saw you the 
other evening at Mercer’s.” 

“I was found in the stream and rescued,” said 
Walter — “no thanks to you or your gang! How 
could you have had the cruelty to act as you did in 
the stage coach and give me up into the hands of 
those villains ? ” 

“Your father testified once in court against my 
son and me, and gave us a great deal of trouble. I 
meant to trouble him in turn and make him pay well 
besides. But I ought to have let you alone — I see 
that now — ^it was the greatest mistake I ever made.” 

“ I am sorry for you,” said Walter, “ bad as you 
have been to me, but I have meant to bring you to 
justice if I could.” 

“ Sorry 1 ” said the old man ; “ I didn’t think any- 
body could be sorry for old Eli Stark.” 

A number of the sheriff’s posse stood in a semi- 
circle about the wounded robber’s couch, and their 
interest in the scene was intense. 

Mr. Graham stepped forward, standing in the full 


A STKANGE INTRUSION. 193 

lamplight. “ Eli Stark, do you know me f ” he 
asked. 

“ You ? You ?” said the old man, looking up in a 
wild, confused manner, “ how should I ? Yes — no — 
it can’t be ! I’ve seen you somewhere though. Gra- 
ham — ^you’re not Gerald Graham ? ” 

It must have been the long hair and beard that 
left him in doubt. 

“ Yes,” said Mr. Graham, “ that is my name. You 
have good cause to remember it ; and you know it is 
the name of one who has never injured you.” 

I know it well,” replied the criminal ; “ you never 
did me any harm, Gerald.” 

“ But to clear yourself, you caused me to be sus- 
pected of acts that I never thought of committing,” 
said Mr. Graham. 

“ Yes, that is true ; and if my confession can do 
you any good now, you are welcome to it.” 

“You caused me the disgrace of an arrest and 
trial,” continued Mr. Graham. 

“Yes, and it was only a disagreement of the jury 
that saved you. They stood ten for conviction, and 
two for acquittal.” 

“ You yourself,” said Mr. Graham, “ had committed 
the thefts of which you accused me, but you made 
our partners believe that I was guilty — and they still 
think so.” 

“ I don’t know what they think now ; they thought 
so then,” replied Eli. 

“And in regard to other matters still more dis- 
graceful,” said the hermit, “you wrote letters and 
memoranda with a perfect imitation of my hand and 
signature, knowing they would fall into the hands of 
the police. Some doubt was, indeed, thrown on their 
genuineness, but they had their effect in so far as to 
make me suspected by almost all my friends.” 

“ That is true,” replied Eli, “ and so you fled from 


194 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


mankind. You were foolish there, Gerald ; I would 
have fought it out.” 

“ You seem very willing to make this confession — 
you are very cool about it.” 

“ Why not ? It is only giving away what will 
never be of any use to me. Besides, I have nothing 
against you. I did these things simply to save my- 
self.” 

“ Will you make a clean statement of the circum- 
stances, so that the sheriff may put down the whole 
in writing ? ” 

“ Certainly. It cannot harm me. I may live or I 
may not live ; but your affair cannot effect me for 
the worse.” 

The sheriff sat down with pen and paper, while old 
Eli related the particulars. Then the wounded man 
signed the paper, and the officer and his deputy wit- 
nessed it. 

“ You were driven wild by these things,” said Mr. 
Mercer to his brother-in-law, “ but neither Isabel nor 
I ever doubted you.” 

“ Others did,” said Mr. Graham, “ but perhaps I 
was too impetuous in my decision to have nothing 
more to do with mankind.” 

Yes,” said Mr. Mercer, “ I am sure you were.” 


CHAPTEK XXXVm. 

THE LAST OF THE HERMIT. 

The high sheriff now made a careful examination of 
the treasure, and had all the coin counted and the 
other valuables assorted and enumerated. 

These latter were contained in a large tin box. In 
it were packed no fewer than one hundred and 
thirty-nine gold watches, mostly fine and costly ones. 
There were, besides, rings, brooches, earrings, and all 


THE LAST OP THE HERMIT. 195 

kinds of jewelry, set with diamonds, rubies and other 
precious stones. 

“ What a wonderful collection those robbers got 
together ! ” exclaimed the sheriff, who, like all the 
rest, was amazed at the value of the contents of the 
box. 

“ The}' must have been in the business for a num- 
ber of years,” remarked the hermit. “ It is strange 
that I never came across them till so lately.” 

“ Pray inspect Mr. Mercer’s boxes as soon as you 
can, sir,” said Walter to the sheriff. The boy was 
anxious to know beyond a doubt that Maud’s father 
had recovered his lost gold. 

“I will, my boy,” replied the sheriff, who now 
turned to the four tin boxes which bore Mr. Mercer’s 
name. 

It took some time to count the great quantity of 
bullion they contained, but at last the task was com- 
pleted, and it was found that each box contained ex- 
actly twenty-five thousand dollars, making a total of 
one hundx'ed thousand — the very sum that Mr. Mer- 
cer had lost. 

Old Eli watched the proceedings with a rather 
sickly smile. It probably was not very pleasant to 
him to see the treasure that he had so boldly and 
wickedly carried off, now handled once more by its 
rightful owner. 

“ That gold,” he said, when the counttng was fin- 
ished, “ has never been displaced since we first — well, 
found it. I had been informed beforehand exactly 
how much the boxes contained, and when we got hold 
of them we just cut them open once to amuse our- 
selves with a sight of the gold within them ; then they 
were soldered up again, and I hid them away myself 
where that boy found them.” 

“ Didn’t the rest of j^our gang know where the 
treasure was concealed ? ” asked the sheriff. 


196 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“ Only some of the most trustworthy,” replied old 
Eli. “Most of them were not told of the exact 
spot.” 

When Mr. Mercer’s boxes had been examined, there 
remained only the four wooden boxes. 

These also were found to be filled with gold, in 
coin and bars, to the value, as near as could be ascer- 
tained, of about one hundred and twenty thousand 
dollars. 

“ Where did all this come from ? ” the sheriff asked 
Eli Stark. 

“ Oh, from a good many different sources,” replied 
the old robber, coolly ; “ it came mostly in small 
amounts — a few hundred dollars at a time. The big- 
gest haul was twelve thousand, which was taken when 
a Wells Fargo express messenger was killed not far 
from here.” 

“ Yes, I remember that crime,” said the sheriff ; 
“ and the men who committed it richly deserve to be 
hung.” 

So it appeared that Mr. Mercer’s hundred thousand 
dollars was by far the largest amount of plunder the 
robbers had ever secured at one robbery ; but it had 
been a fatal stroke for them, for that was the first 
link in the chain of events that had brought them 
within the power of the law. 

Mr. McGrregor went on talking to old Eli, who was 
now so wonderfully frank in his admissions. 

“ Wh}" did you come up into this part of the cav- 
ern ? ” asked the sheriff. 

“ Accident, all accident,” said the old man. “We 
had never examined the place on this side, and I had 
not the least idea of finding it inhabited when I 
strayed up here from the lake.” 

Arrangements were now made for a return to the 
settlement. Mr. Graham would accompany the 
party, while Ealph and three of the sheriff’s men 


THE LAST OP THE HEBMIT, 197 

would be left at the cave in charge of old Eli, who 
could not now be removed. 

“ I suppose I will have to trim my beard and hair 
for the occasion,” said the hermit. “ Do any of you 
understand cutting hair ? ” 

The sheriff’s men seemed to distrust their acquire- 
ments in this respect. 

“ I should think Kalph might succeed very well,’* 
suggested Walter. 

But Kalph shook his head when applied to, and 
pointed to his own hair which had all the wildness of 
a lion’s mane. 

“ He means that he believes in long hair,” said Mr. 
Graham, “ and has never acted the barber. I am sure 
you could do it to my satisfaction, Walter.” 

“I’ll try,” said our young friend, “if you wish me 
to, but I may not do it in the best style.” 

“ I’m sure you could do it like a barber from Paris,” 
said Mr. Graham. “Here are the scissors and the 
comb. I like to encourage enterprise, and get an 
‘ axe ground ’ at the same time ! ” 

Walter took the scissors and commenced opera- 
tions, stopping often to review his work. 

“ Go on,” said the hermit, “you are doing admira- 
bly, as I see by the mirror.” 

The operation did indeed reflect credit upon the 
young artist. 

“ Superb ! ” said Mr. Graham, when his shortened . 
locks had been combed and brushed smooth. “Now 
for the beard.” 

“That, too, was trimmed neatly, and the hermit 
stood before his guests a really fine-looking man of 
some forty-five years. Next he dressed himself in an 
ordinary and becoming suit ; and thus the change in 
his outward man was^ rendered complete. The hermit 
had 


Melted into air, into thin air.’ 


198 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


CHAPTER XXXIX. 

A HAPPY REITNION. 

The ride to the settlement was an exhilarating one, 
as well from the rugged mountain scenery as from 
the complete success which had crowned the expedi- 
tion. All felt happy, and Walter was quite trium- 
phant when he thought of the part he had played in 
recovering the wealth of Maud’s father. 

The recovered treasure was safely bestowed to 
await such arrangements as might be made with the 
view of restoring it to its rightful owners as soon as 
the various claims should be established. 

As to Mr. Mercer’s property, the evidence was so 
dii’ect that he would experience no difficulty ; and 
Walter felt extremely glad of this, as he wished Maud 
to receive the good news without the shadow of a 
drawback, such as would arise if there were any 
doubt or delay involved in the restoration of the hun- 
dred thousand dollars. 

Both Mr. Mercer and the other sufferers had 
offered great rewards for the recovery of what they 
had lost ; but our young lad had resolved from the 
first that for his share in the work, should he be ever 
so successful, he would accept not a single dollar 
from any one. 

“ I am in no want of money,” he reasoned, “ and 
the thought of doing a good deed for pay would 
have spoiled all the satisfaction I have felt in hunt- 
ing the robbers down or looking for the treasure.” 

“Now,” said Mr. Mercer at length, when assured 
that his golden store was under safe guard, “ we will 
go out to my home without more delay. I am impa- 
tient to give my wife and Maud a pleasant sur- 
prise.” 


A HAPPY ilEUNIOI^. 


199 

“Come, Gerald! come Walter! It seems odd 
enough to be able to carry a sunny face home with 
me ! It is a thing I hardly thought ever to do again, 
only a few days ago.” 

As they were upon the point of setting out, Mr. 
McGregor, the sheriff, appeared with a smiling face. 

“I have good news for you, Walter,” he said. 
“Your parents have just arrived from San Francisco. 
I did not know exactly where you were, and told your 
father I would look you up.” 

This was extremely pleasant intelligence, as well 
to Mr. Mercer and Mr. Graham as to their boy 
friend. 

“ Tell them,” said Mr. Mercer, as Walter prepared 
to hurry away with the sheriff, “ that they, too, must 
go home with me. I shall accept no refusal. Come 
back as soon as you can and take me to see them.” 

Mr. and Mrs. Dayton were overjoyed at meeting 
their boy well and hajDpy after all the dangers he 
had passed. They were very anxious to hear from 
his lips the full story of all his strange adventures. 

“ Oh,” said the good lady, “ how much I have suf- 
fered ! It has been the most dreadful trial I ever ex- 
perienced.’ 

“ I knew nothing of the occurrence,” said Mr. Day- 
ton, “ till my arrival at San Francisco day before yes- 
terday. One might as well be out of the world as in 
the peninsula of Lower California, as far as news is 
concerned. Thank heaven ! it is all over now ; but 
what a state of mind I should have been in had I 
known of it at the time ! I should have come here at 
once ; but what could I have done ? ” 

Mr. Mercer’s invitation was accepted in the kindly 
spirit in which it was given ; and the party of five ar- 
rived at his wide log» house after a pleasant ride on 
horseback. 

Maud, with the rich locks flung back from her 


200 


THE MOtJNTAlH CAVE. 


forehead and reaching to her shapely waist, ran out 
to meet her father, breathless with impatience to 
learn the result of his efforts. 

She paused and blushed at sight of the strange 
faces who were with him, and Walter thought she 
never looked prettier than now. 

“ It is all right, Maud ! ” cried Mr. Mercer, “ every 
dollar of the treasure has been recovered ! ” 

“ Oh, how did you find it ? ” she cried, excitedly ; 
“ I am so glad ! so glad ! ” 

“Walter found it, all by himself, in the cave,” re- 
plied her father. “We have him to thank for our 
good fortune.” 

Maud’s head seemed to whirl with the excess of 
her emotions. For a few moments she was very pale, 
then the rich blood gave her face all the crimson of 
morning. 

The glance she bestowed upon Walter had in it an 
indescribable blending of gratitude and modest ad- 
miration. 

“ This gentleman and lady are Mr. and Mrs. Day- 
ton,” said Mr. Mercer. 

The young girl greeted them with graceful sim- 
plicity ; and meantime cast a timid glance towards 
the third stranger, who was a little in the rear of the 
others. 

“ And this gentleman,” added her father, indica- 
ting Mr. Graham, “ it is quite possible that you may 
have met before.” 

For an instant Maud looked puzzled ; then sud- 
denly she sprang forward, with a glad cry, for she 
had recognized the former hermit. 

“ Oh, uncle Gerald ! ” she exclaimed, “ for you are 
he, I am sure you are ! I was only seven years old 
when you went away, uncle Gerald, but I remember 
you ever so well ! Oh, how glad mamma, too, will be 
to see you ! ” 


A HAPPY RHHNIOK. 


201 


“ tJncle Gerald ” was strongly moved by the unaf- 
fected welcome of his fair young niece — who had 
been his pet in by-gone days. 

Mrs. Mercer was as much overjoyed at the sudden 
reaiDpearance of her long-lost brother as at the resto- 
ration of her husband’s wealth. 

Figuratively if not literally, the fatted calf was 
killed for the occasion ; and Walter could not help 
feeling that his old friend of the mountain cave had 
yet much to live for, and would be a different man, 
when restored to his friends, and no longer a hermit 
in the mountain cave. 

Next day, our two young people once more visited 
the scene of their former stroll ; and again the boy 
wreathed the head of his bewitching companion with 
flowers. They talked earnestly of the past as they 
sat on the rocks or loitered in the shade of the tall 
trees. 

“ How strange it all seems! ” said Maud. “It ap- 
pears like something the fairies have done ! When 
we were here only a few days ago, my father was 
poor — and now he is rich again! How little I 
thought of this when we were in the stage coach ! 
What a dreadful night that was ! 

“ And all our good fortune is omng to you ! Papa 
says so, and I know it is so, too. If the robbers had 
never taken you })risoner, you would not have known 
anything about them ; and i^apa says no other boy 
would have followed them as you have done. I’m 
sure I never knew any who would ! ” 

“They made me mad,” said Walter, “and, besides, 
I thought they ought to be brought to justice. I 
thought, too, how delightful it would be if your fa- 
ther could get back his property.” 

“ Papa says uncle* Gerald can make his fortune 
with the models he has invented,” said Maud. “ He 
thinks they are just what are needed at the present 


m 


THE mountain cave. 


time. He got a sight of them while he was at the 
cavern and asked uncle about them.” 

“ I think they must be something remarkable,” re- 
plied Walter, “ but I am not a good judge.” 

“Yes.” said Maud, “papa says that uncle Gerald 
has made an improvement in steam engines that will 
be used everywhere when it is introduced, and will 
make a fortune for the inventor.” 

“ I’m sure I hope it will,” replied her boy friend. 

“ What a wonderful place that cave must be,” re- 
marked Maud ; “ it almost frightens me to think of 
it I If I had known you were away in there in the 
dark, I should have been afraid you would never get 
out. Suppose you had got lost! ” 

“ Oh, it is glorious 1 ” said Walter. “ Such walls and 
pillars with stars all over them I I wish you could 
see what a grand place it is 1 ” 

“ But didn’t the bats make you afraid ? And didn’t 
you have some dreadful thoughts while you. were 
trying to get out the gold with that great mammoth 
tusk?” 

Walter laughed at his comj^anion’s pretty earnest- 
ness. “No,” he said, “I worked so hard that I 
hadn’t time to think of anything dreadful.” 

“ Oh, my 1 ” said Maud. “ I should have had time ! 
How glad I am that you got out safe ! ” 

Again Walter thought — “ What sweet, pretty 
eyes 1 ” He was standing on more dangerous ground 
than when in the cavern. 


CHAPTEE XL. 

CONCLUSION. 

It now only remains for us to briefly relate the 
further fortunes of the actors in that strange drama 
of events that culminated in the mountain cave. 

Old Eli Stark, the leader of the villainous gang of 


CONCLUSION. 


203 


robbers, recovered from his injuries, and was trans- 
ferred from the cavern to the jail ; thence — after 
trial — to the State prison, together with all his con- 
federates. He was sentenced for a long term of 
years, and he died in prison before his punishment 
was over. 

Bill Jinks received a much lighter sentence than 
the others, in consideration of his confession and the 
lesser number of his offenses. He was a rough and 
foolish 3'oung fellow, but not a criminal at heart. 
This experienee was a lesson to him that bore good 
fruit. When he came out of State prison he went to 
work on a farm in Oregon, where he made an honest 
effort to lead a better life. 

As soon as his affairs could be arranged, Mr. Mer- 
cer removed with his family to San Francisco, greatly 
to the delight of Walter, who knew that he could now 
take Maud out in his yacht on that magnificent bay 
which has so few equals on the Pacific coast. 

“ Oh, let me tell you the news,” she said to him one 
morning, as he met her on the way to school. “ Uncle 
Gerald has disj)osed of the models of all his inven- 
tions at a sweep — all the strange things he made in 
the cave. He has been paid a hundred thousand dol- 
lars for them. Only think of it ! I am so glad, for 
he is such a good man ! ” 

Walter’s eyes sparkled. “It does me more good 
than it would to have found twice that amount,” he 
replied. “ How well I remember the time when I 
first saw him at work on one of those inventions ! I 
thought him a robber then, and supposed that the 
thing was some wicked machine for operating on a 
bank safe or blowing up a vault. But what a big 
mistake I made ! I know now that there isn’t a bet- 
ter man in the world.” 

“You must have had dreadful feelings at that 
time,” 


204 


THE MOUNTAIN CAVE. 


“ I did ; but I was determined uot to let him know 
it.” 

“ And now,” said Maud, “ I have something quite 
romantic to tell you. I believe, after all, that uncle 
Gerald was born to good fortune. Isn’t it strange 
that the lady to whom I told my story in the stage 
coach, should have proved to be an old acquaintance 
of his that he thought a great deal of when they were 
young together. Neither of them ever married, and 
mamma says she believes they still think much of 
each other.” 

“ Oh,” said Walter, “ won’t we have a fine time 
when we all go visiting the cavern together, as we are 
to do next summer ? ” 

“ We shall indeed, I hope,” said Maud, who looked 
as happy as Walter. 

“We can go boating on the subterranean lake,” 
continued the boy. “Ralph says the canoes are still 
there — both of them — taken in out of the weather ; so 
they will be all ready for us.” 

“ Uncle is real good to Ralph,” said Maud, “ and he 
will never have to do any work again, unless he should 
choose to. Uncle Gerald and he will both be good 
pilots for us about the mountains.” - 

“We’ll have a nice little party,” said Walter, “ and 
carry dozens of lanterns. I shall want you to see the 
stalactites and how they shine. I don’t think half 
the lake is discovered yet.” 

“ And we shall see the island where you found the 
gold,” said Maud. “ I want to see the mammoth tusk 
too, for I shall think how you worked with it.” 

“ It will be there unless the geologists get around 
ahead of us,” replied Walter. “You know,” he added, 
laughing, “ that Bret Harte makes Truthful James 
say that the geological society upon the Stanislaus is 
broken up ; so those fellows, at least, won’t trouble us.” 

Maud laughed, musically. “ My ! ” she said, “ I 


CONCLUSION. 


205 


know I shall be frightened at first ; but then if you — 
all of us are there together — Oh, the last bell ! I for- 
got it was so late. Well, good morning, Walter! ” 

“ Good morning, Maud ! ” 

And so they parted for the moment, each with 
thoughts that one can better guess at than describe. 

THE END. 


No, 2 of this series is entitled 

0 Y0YAGE +0 tbe C-0LD e0AST, 

BY prank: h. converse. 

We consider the story one of the best Mr. Converse 
has ever written. It is a remarkably interesting history 
of the struggles and adventures of Jack Bond — a young 
American who proved himself every inch a hero in all 
the trying and dangerous situations in which fate seemed 
to place him. 

The twelve books that will comprise the first volume 
of Mdnsey’s Popular Series would make a fine library 
for any boy or girl, and the whole volume (12 books) 
will cost but three dollars. 




POPU LAR S 

The following numbers of this very attractive and successful 
library of books are now out. They can be procured from any 
book store or newsdealer’s, or wdll be mailed from the office of 
the publisher, Frank A. Munsey, 81 Warren St., New York, on 
receipt of the price, 25 cents each. 

No. 1. “ The Mountain Cave ; on. The Mysteby of the 

Sierra Nevada,” by George H. Coomer. 

No. 2. “ A Voyage to the Gold Coast ; or, Jack Bond’s 

Quest,” by Frank H. Converse. 

No. 3. “The Boys in the Forecastle ; A Story of Beal 
Ships and Keal Sailors, ” by George H. Coomer. 

No. 4. “ Barbara’s Triu^^phs; or, The Fortunes of a Young 

Artist,” by Mary A. Denison. 

No. 5. “Number 91; ok, The Adventures of a New York 
Telegraph Boy,” by Arthur Lee Putnam. 

No. 6. “ Jack Wheeler ; A Story of the Wild West,’’ by 

Captain David Southwick. 

No. 7. “ The Mystery of a Diamond,” by Frank H. Con- 

verse. 

No. 8. “ The Young Acrobat of the Great North Ameri- 

can Circus,” by Horatio Alger, Jr. 

No. 9. “ Luke Bennett’s Hide Out; A Story op the War,” 

by Captain C. B. Ashley, United States Scout. 

No. 10. “Tom Tracy; or. The Trials of a New York 
Newsboy,” by Arthur Lee Putnam. 

No. 11. “ The Smugglers’ Cave,” by Annie Ashmore. 

No. 12. “ In The Wilds op New Mexico,” by G. M. Fenn. 

No. 13. “That Treasure,” by F. H. Converse. 

No. IL “Nature’s Young Noblemen,” by Brooks McCor- 
mick. 



A SUMPTUOUS BIFT BOOK. 





' — — 

Among the Kings of Wall Street. 


By FRANK A. MUNSEY 

PuhlUhei' of The Aj'gosy and Author of “ Afiool in a 
Great Gityf Under Firef etc. 


:o;- 


This story, which was one of the most popular ever printed 
in the The Aegosy, has been entirely re-written since its ap- 
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ever. 

In get up ” The Boy Broker ” is the handsomest volume that 
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It may be ordered at any book store, price $2.00 ; of you 
can get it post paid by sending that amount direct to the 
publishers, 

FRAIVR A. MUiVSEY & COMPANY, 

81 Warren St., New York. 







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